LAHORE: A video of a woman slapping a man who sexually harassed her on a bus from Multan to Islamabad went viral on Thursday, with the majority of public lauding her for the action she took.
The video that was shared by a Facebook user Zahra Nain on her friend’s behalf shows an aged man, who according to social media reports is a CSS officer as well as a hafiz-e-Quran, asking the girl to delete the video of her confronting him for sexually molesting her.
According to the Facebook post, the culprit attempted to “remove her dupatta from her back and tried to grab her body with force”.
“My friend was travelling alone today afternoon from Multan to Islamabad via bus and this F****** OLD man was sitting behind her. He was constantly trying to stroke her back. Now, she has a herniated disc and due to the constant travelling, her back was numb. She could only feel the tingling which she thought was due to her medical condition. But this buddha did not just stop there, he attempted to remove her dupatta from her back and tried to grab her body with force. That is where she realised what was happening and got up to teach him a good lesson,” Nain narrated.
She also appreciated her friend for the courage of overcoming the shock that women face when subjected to harassment of all sorts. “I am proud of my baby for standing strong in this situation of high stress, where most of us are left speechless and motionless,” she wrote.
Nain further pointed out that the man apologised but not for his actions or behaviour but to stop her friend from posting the video on social media. He kept asking her to delete the video.
Many social media users, including media figures, lauded the woman for setting an example of how such people should be treated while others highlighted the fact that a majority of perpetrators of sexual abuse misuse religion to mask their actions.
“These criminals should no longer be allowed to hide behind their beards and false piety,” Comedian and columnist Shahzad Ghias said in a tweet.
These criminals should no longer be allowed to hide behind their beards and false piety.
This lecherous old man tried assaulting and groped a woman on the Multan to Islamabad bus.
Shocked that the other men are protecting this uncle. They should have also slapped him. pic.twitter.com/GCEX5GjPXB
— Shehzad Ghias Shaikh (@Shehzad89) September 26, 2019
However, citizens also pointed out the denial and ignorance men show towards such incidents as some had called for excusing the man’s actions in consideration of his age.
This old man touched a lady she filmed him. Meanwhile people in the comments
Some want to know other side of story
Some judging girl based on lang used by her(obv everyone would have reacted same way)
Also some dont want her to slap him b/c he is twice her age.
This society sucks pic.twitter.com/0djlyNc4rU— Kaaf hay (@K_freakk) September 26, 2019
Social media users also pointed out the religious hypocrisy under which such incidents are on the rise in the country.
It may be mentioned here that the molester adorns a beard according to Sunnat-e-Rasool.
It was also mentioned that the man was old enough to have daughters and granddaughters who were at the risk of being subjected to incest and sexual abuse by him as well.
Earlier on September 22, a qari identified as Maulvi Liaquat confessed to regularly raping a 12-year old boy in a mosque.
Moreover, the Kasur child pornography and rape scandal came back into the spotlight this month with rape cum murder cases totalling at least five.
Earlier in August, former Bangladeshi students took to social media to detail allegations of “rampant” sex abuse at the hands of teachers and older pupils in Islamic schools, breaking their silence on a taboo topic in a conservative and Muslim country.