Four women were assaulted, stripped and filmed by five men in Pakistan's Punjab province, local media reported adding that police have arrested the culprits.
The incident came to light after a video of the assault that took place in Faisalabad's Bawa Chak Market went viral on social media.
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, Dawn newspaper reported.
According to the FIR, the complainant, a ragpicker, went to Bawa Chak Market with three other women to collect garbage on Monday at around 10.30 am.
She told police that as they were thirsty they had gone inside Usman Electric Store and requested for a bottle of water from one of the suspects, Saddam, whom they identified as the owner of the shop. However, Saddam began shouting at them, accusing them of entering his shop with the intention to steal, Dawn citing FIR reported, adding that other suspects also reached the shop upon hearing him shouting.
"They continued to beat us for around an hour and made our videos in naked condition," the FIR quoted the complainant as saying.
"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.
The annual report of State of Human Rights in Pakistan released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) for the year 2020 said that has set alarm bells ringing over the plight of women in the country.
The HRCP report has once again painted a concerning picture of the women's rights situation in the country. The HRCP has highlighted forms of violence against women, which include sexual assault and domestic violence prevalent across the country.
( With inputs from ANI )
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