LAHORE: “There are many girls who are scared and there are many others who are unable to do anything. But how long will this go on for?” Twitter user TP* tweeted. On Friday, T* released a video of a young man, who was indecently exposing himself while sitting on his motorcycle as she walked down a lane. In her video description, she wrote that the area was near Raiwind Road.

“Please share this to make it reach his family and maybe authorities will also take action against such people.” The appeal worked and thousands of people shared the video. Some women came forward with their own stories.

“Happened with me once on my way back to home from coaching center,” said one twitter user. “I wasn’t able to sleep.”

Soon, the capital city police officer and the deputy inspector general of police took notice of the case and directed Sadar Superintendent of Police (SP) Ahsan Saifullah to trace the man.

“It took us hours to find the man, even with the number plate information because the bike was not registered in his name and so it was very challenging for us,” said SP Saifullah.

By Friday, the suspect, Tayyab, of Westwood Colony, was arrested and his vehicle confiscated. The police officer announced it online.

While the arrest has been applauded, police feel so much more could have happened to punish the culprit if the complainant had come forward. He is speaking in context of yet another case that happened prior to this.

A man named Arsalan Manzoor was arrested on the same charges. “Someone uploaded pictures of the man flashing his private parts at her while she was in a rickshaw,” he said. “He also followed her after which she began taking pictures of him and his number plate.”

The man was arrested on the basis of this ‘online complaint’, on July 26, and his motorcycle was impounded. But again the complainant did not come forward for reasons of privacy.

In both cases, the police was the complainant and the first information report was registered under sections 28 (Obscene Act in Public) and 290 (Punishment for Public Nuisance) of the PPC.

“We reached out to both women for further details, but they wanted to remain anonymous, so the police became the complainant,” said SP Saifullah. “If they had come forward, we would have also added amendment to Section 509 PPC (Insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment). The case would have been more solid then.”

Lawyer Taimur Malik, founder of Courting the Law, says that the main issue remains that while Section 509 states that punishment can mean imprisonment up to three years, or fine up to Rs500,000, or both, under Section 290 the fine is just Rs600.

“It used to be Rs200 before, which was raised to Rs600 in 2002,” he said. “Under Section 268, jail time is just three months. The sanctions must be more stringent too.”

Digital rights activist Nighat Dad also supports that women must find the courage to step forward, otherwise the anti-harassment laws will not be properly utilised for their own benefit.

Mental health expert Dr Ali Madeeh Hashmi says a huge chunk of criminals may come under those who suffer from mental illness, but not everyone. “Likewise, not everyone who is mentally ill is a criminal. In any case, a psychological and psychiatric assessment is what needs to be done next,” he says.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2019