Lahore police on Tuesday registered a case against hundreds of unidentified persons for assaulting and stealing from a female TikToker and her companions at the city's Greater Iqbal Park on Independence Day.
In the first information report (FIR) registered at the Lorry Adda police station, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the complainant stated that she, along with six companions, were filming a video near Minar-e-Pakistan on Independence Day when around 300 to 400 people "attacked us".
She said that she and her companions made a lot of effort to escape from the crowd. Observing the situation, the park's security guard opened the gate to the enclosure around Minar-e-Pakistan, the FIR quotes her as saying.
"However, the crowd was huge and people were scaling the enclosure and coming towards us. People were pushing and pulling me to the extent that they tore my clothes. Several people tried to help me but the crowd was too huge and they kept throwing me in the air," she said.
She further stated that her companions were also assaulted. During the struggle, her ring and earrings were "forcibly taken", besides a mobile phone of one of her companions, his identity card and Rs15,000 that he had on his person.
"The unidentified persons assaulted us violently," the complainant added.
The FIR was registered under sections 354 A (assault or use of criminal force against woman and stripping her of her clothes), 382 (theft after preparation made for causing death, hurt or restraint in order to commit the theft), 147 (rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Meanwhile, Lahore DIG Operations Sajid Kiyani ordered the superintendent of police (SP) to take "immediate legal action" against the suspects involved in the incident.
"The suspects should be traced with the help of the footage," a statement quoted the police official as saying.
Those who "violated women's honour and harassed them will be brought within the ambit of the law", Kiyani added.
A video of the incident started circulating on social media earlier today with citizens expressing anger over the actions of the men in the video.
The latest incident comes amid renewed focus on violence against women in Pakistan, following the murders of Noor Mukadam and Quratul Ain in July.
In the same month, a video went viral on social media in which six men were seen harassing a couple in Islamabad. The men held the couple at gunpoint, forced them to strip and then beat them up. Moreover, they also abused the couple verbally and physically by doing vulgar acts.
Four of the suspects were later arrested.
