A video of a TikTok star being dragged, groped and beaten in a savage attack by around 400 men, who also tore off her clothes, has been trending online, and the incident has sparked nationwide outrage.
The mob attack took place on Saturday when people gathered at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore for their Independence Day celebration, according to Mirror. After the incident, the woman told police that she had visited the monument with six friends to capture a footage on Independence Day, but then she got picked up and taken into the middle of the crowd as seen in the viral video.
The woman wrote in her complaint that she tried to escape the mob, but failed to do so. According to her, people pushed and pulled her so much that they ended up tearing her clothes. "Several people tried to help me, but the crowd was too huge and they kept throwing me in the air,” she said, and shared that her friends were also assaulted. In the attack, her jewelry was also snatched away, and her friend's phone and identity card were taken.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, an assembly member and chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party, said that those involved in the attack must be brought to justice, and also emphasized on women's safety and equal rights.
Lahore DIG Operations Sajid Kiyani said, "The suspects should be traced with the help of the footage," and those who "violated women's honor and harassed them will be brought within the ambit of the law."
Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a close aide of Imran Khan, said that the Prime Minister spoke to Inspector General of Police Punjab, and that the cops will catch all the culprits involved in the horrifying incident.
PM @ImranKhanPTI personally spoke to IGPunjab, police is catching all culprits involved in manhandling of female tiktoker in Lahore & those damaging statue of Ranjit Singh at LahoreFort.
— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) August 18, 2021
These are gross violations of laws & social norms, govt won’t spare a single person involved.
Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari tweeted that arrests have been made and FIRs are filed, but stressed on the need to try and change "such violent behavioral patterns in our people."
MoHR is in touch with Punjab authorities to ensure strict action ag perpetrators of the condemnable attack on a woman in Greater Iqbal Park Lahore. Arrests made, FIRs done. MoHR following up. But we need to try & change such violent behavioral patterns in our ppl. #lahoreincident
— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) August 18, 2021
Meanwhile, a Lahore police officer said on Thursday that 15 suspects were arrested after being identified through the video, which has been sent to the National Database and Registration Authority for identification of the remaining suspects, reported NDTV.
