Police registered a case against an unidentified young motorcyclist on Friday over charges of insulting the modesty of a woman and assaulting her in public in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar, days after a video of the incident went viral on social media.

According to Karachi East Senior Superintendent of Police Zubair Nazeer Shaikh, the first information report was lodged on behalf of the state after the victim remained “untraceable”.

Police took notice of the incident on Wednesday when a video showing a man groping an unidentified woman in broad daylight on a road in Gulistan-i-Jauhar was widely shared on social media.

The incident was caught on a CCTV camera, wherein a masked man was seen parking his motorcycle before removing his shorts and attempting to grab a passerby woman. The motorcycle did not have a number plate.

Police said the incident took place in Gulistan-i-Jauhar’s Block 4 on Monday (July 3) around 11am, and the owner of a house outside of which the incident took place had shared the CCTV video on social media.

According to the FIR registered today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the incident occurred outside Sassi Homes in Gulistan-i-Jauhar Block-4 near house A-112, around two-three kilometres from the area’s police station.

The complainant, a police officer, said that he saw the video of the incident on social media and later showed it to an IT officer.

“It showed that one unidentified person wearing a black t-shirt and white shorts, who was wearing a face mask, stopped his motorbike. After disembarking from the bike, the suspect indulged in obscene acts and removed his shorts. He chased a woman wearing a burqa who was passing through the street.

“The suspect attempted to grope her, insulted her modesty and sexually harassed her. As the woman put up resistance, the suspect wore his shorts and fled with the bike,” the FIR added.

It invoked sections 294 (obscene acts and songs), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Meanwhile, SSP Shaikh told Dawn.com that investigators had obtained some clues about the possible identity of the predator.

He said route mapping was conducted and further evidence was also obtained.

“CCTV footage showing the suspect fleeing from the area has been obtained, in which the suspect’s mask was removed. It might help the investigators identify him,” the senior officer added.

Earlier, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took serious notice of the “shameful act” and directed the Sindh IGP and Karachi AIGP to ensure the immediate arrest of the culprit and deal with him strictly according to law.