Police arrest five men for beating, stripping four women in Faisalabad

The Faisalabad police have arrested five men suspected of assaulting, stripping and filming four women in city’s Bawa Chak Market on Monday. The Punjab Police shared the development in a tweet. According to the tweet, two of the suspects were arrested on Monday night and three others were arrested later on Tuesday. “All aspects of the incident are being investigated,” the tweet said. The action was taken after videos of men stripping and beating women in the city made rounds on social media. Faisalabad City Police Officer (CPO) Dr Mohammad Abid Khan told a news outlet that raids are being conducted for further arrests and the culprits would be given strict punishment. A first information report (FIR) was registered at Millat Town police station against four named suspects — Saddam, the owner of Usman electric Store, and his employee, Faisal, Zaheer Anwar, and Faqeer hussain, the owner of a sanitary products’ shop — and 10 unidentified suspects on behalf of one of the victims. The suspects have been charged under sections 354-A (assault or use of criminal force against a woman and stripping her), 509 (insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment), 147 (punishment for rioting) and 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of an offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Pakistan Penal Code. “The suspects committed gross injustice by stripping us, dragging us through the market and torturing us and strict action should be taken against them,” the complainant said in the FIR.