Chitral police to probe into harassment of local women after viral video surfaces

CHITRAL: Chitral’s District Police Officer (DPO) Mansoor Aman on Tuesday took notice of a viral video made by a man who harassed a group of women.

The culprit was allegedly a tourist who shot the almost three-minute long video in Kalash Valley.

In the video, he relentlessly chases the women and tries to force them into posing for pictures with him while the women can be seen covering their faces to avoid being captured on camera against their will. After a few seconds, the women ask the harasser to leave and stop recording, however, the man while ignoring them continues to forcibly film the group and bullies them for pictures. He then targets an elderly woman by demanding that she face the camera and says that he will show the video to “his mother”.

Furthermore, the man laughs and claims that he is a policeman when a woman threatens to involve the police.

According to DPO Aman, the video was uploaded on social media in 2016 and came to notice just recently. “No action had been taken since no one had reported the incident,” the officer claimed.

He assured that the matter will be investigated with the assistance of Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crimes Unit so that the identity of the individual who originally uploaded the video could be determined.

Speaking to a local news channel, Aman said that he has directed the concerned authorities to further probe into the matter and also requested the victims to come forward and file a first information report (FIR) while emphasising that women and children must report such incidents to minimise the menace of harassment.