CHITRAL: A local court on Sunday sent to judicial lockup the alleged harasser of Kalash women, turning down the police request to have his physical remand.

Sub-divisional police officer of Drosh, Iqbal Karim, told Dawn that the accused, Mohammad Ismail of Mathra Peshawar, had been arrested from his village three days ago and was brought here when a video footage went viral on social media in which he was seen subjecting Kalash girls to harassment, posing himself as a policeman.

He said the accused was sent to the judicial lockup by the police as per orders of the court while the challan of the case would be submitted in court within a 14-day time. He said the accused had been booked under sections 509 and 511 for harassment of women, and section 419 for falsely posing himself as a policeman.

Mr Karim said the statements of all the five girls, whose ages ranged from 18 to 24 years, would be recorded in the course of inquiry before the challan was submitted to the court.

He said the incident had reportedly taken place in 2015 and the footage was uploaded on social media in 2016, but it went viral a few days ago when it was again uploaded on social media by unknown persons.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2018