Woman identifies 4 suspects in rickshaw harassment case
A woman who was harassed by a group of men while travelling in a Qingqi rickshaw in Lahore on Independence Day identified on Wednesday four of the suspects arrested in the case.
The suspects were produced before a judicial magistrate, Kamran Zafar, in Lahore for an identification parade, during which the woman identified four men who had harrassed her on August 14, earlier this year.
She told the magistrate that the suspects, Usman, Irfan, Abdur Rehman and Sajid, had followed the rickshaw she was travelling in and harassed her.
They made indecent remarks and Sajid climbed onto the back of the three-wheeler and kissed her, the woman said.
The suspects were arrested after then Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani had taken notice of the case after a video of the incident went viral on social media.
The video showed the woman travelling in the back of a Qingqi rickshaw, better known as Chingchi, which was surrounded by men on motorcycles, some of whom were catcalling her. While the woman had her face turned to the other side, a man suddenly jumped onto the Qingqi and tried to kiss the woman, who was left visibly shaken.
As the video was shared on social media, IGP Ghani had directed Capital City Police Officer Ghulam Mehmood Dogar to submit a report on the incident. He had also issued orders to identify the suspects through Safe City cameras and to arrest them.
The report of the harassment incident had come days after the Lahore Police had registered a first information report (FIR) against hundreds of men for harassing and assaulting a female TikToker and her companions in the city's Greater Iqbal Park on Independence Day.
The incident was one among a spate of cases of sexual violence against women surfacing in Lahore.
The cases of a man allegedly raping his 16-year-old daughter in Johar Town and a teenage boy sexually assaulted a minor girl in Nawakot were reported around the same time.
Meanwhile, a man was alleged of raping a mother of four children in Shadbagh and the Lorry Adda police had also registered a case against a man for allegedly raping a girl who was in a search of job.
