Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Riffat Mukhtar on Sunday took notice of the harassment of female students travelling in a bus on Karachi’s Rashid Minhas Road and directed the relevant senior superintendent of police to submit a report on the incident.

Earlier, a video of the incident began doing the rounds on social media. It showed a man on a motorcycle exposing himself to female university students on one of the city’s main roads.

In a statement issued today, IG Mukhtar said took cognisance of media reports detailing the incident and sought a report on the matter.

Separately, Central SSP Faisal Abdullah Chachar told Dawn.com that the incident occurred on Thursday (September 28) and the video was uploaded to social media by one of the female students travelling in the bus.

Chachar said the students are enrolled at the University of Karachi. They were in the vehicle when a suspect chased and harassed them near the UBL Sports Complex opposite Lucky One Mall for around five minutes, he stated.

According to the official, the police had taken notice of the incident and concerted efforts were under way to arrest the suspect.

The SSP added that the victims had not reported the case yet, therefore, the police had decided to register a case against the suspect on the state’s behalf through a police officer.

Later in the day, a statement from the District Central police said an investigation was initiated after the registration of a case at Joharabad police station. It further stated that the culprit would soon be arrested and “made an example of”.

The first information report, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was registered on the complaint of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Ikhlaq Ahmed Khan under 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.

The complainant said in the FIR that he saw the video of the suspect, sitting on a motorcycle, indulging in “obscene acts”, exposing his private parts and harassing female students sitting in a van.

Previously, a disturbing video clip of a man exposing himself and assaulting a woman in broad daylight in Gulistan-i-Jauhar had gone viral on social media in July, prompting the police to take notice.