Police probing video showing harassment of Kalash women

Chitral’s District Police Officer (DPO) Mansoor Aman on Tuesday took notice of a video clip circulating on social media showing a man harassing a group of women by following them and nagging them to pose for pictures with him.

The two-minute-long clip, obtained by DawnNewsTV, was apparently shot in the Kalash Valley. It shows a group of women being followed and filmed by a man, who is allegedly a tourist. The women can be seen covering their faces to avoid being captured on the camera.

Even though the women consistently tell the alleged harasser to leave and stop recording them, the man continues to follow them and nags them to pose for pictures. At one point, he tells an elderly woman — who turns away as he comes toward her — to face the camera, saying he will show her video to “his mother”.

When a woman threatens to go to the police, the man laughs and claims he himself is a policeman.

According to DPO Aman, the video was uploaded on social media in 2016 but had remained unnoticed till recently.
No action had been taken since no one had reported the incident, the officer claimed.

Nonetheless, he assured that police will request assistance from the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crimes Unit in order to ascertain the identity of the individual who originally uploaded the video.

He told DawnNewsTV that he has directed the relevant deputy superintendent of police and station house officer to look into the matter and ask the victims to come forward to record their statements.

As per DPO @ChitralPolice Capt (R) Mansoor Aman (PSP) Police has traced out the person in video. After legal formalities his bio will be made public on social media, soon.

@faaykhan90, @JalalQazi @ https://t.co/WHtixqzkeT

— Deputy Commissioner, Lower Chitral (@DCLowerChitral) June 19, 2018

The DPO also appealed to the people, especially women and children, to report incidents of harassment to the police, adding that Chitral police have established facilitation centres to assist women and children facing harassment.