Man taken into custody for harassing girl in Karachi

KARACHI: Police on Tuesday arrested a youth for harassing a girl at a bus stop in Malir area of Karachi, ARY News reported.

According to details, the boy offered a girl, waiting for a bus at bus stop in Malir, a ride in his vehicle, upon which the girl called police. The police van arrived and took the boy named Mazhar to police station.

“I was going (somewhere). I saw the girl standing (in wait for a bus) and asked her to sit down with me. This was it,” the suspect said while shamelessly claiming that his “offer was not out of any bad intention”.

THE LAW

A large number of women face sexual harassment in Pakistan both in public and at workplaces.

Any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors or other verbal or written communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature or sexually demeaning attitudes that create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment, comes within the definition of harassment.

According to Pakistan’s laws, whoever  intends to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that such gesture or object shall be seen, by such woman, intrudes upon the privacy of such woman or conducts sexual advances, or demands sexual favours or uses written or verbal communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature which intends to annoy, insult, intimidate or threaten the other person or commits such acts at the premises of work place, or makes submission to such conduct either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment, or makes submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual a basis for employment decision affecting such individual, or retaliates because of rejection of such behavior, or conducts such behavior with the intention of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or fine up to five hundred thousand rupees or with both.

Such behavior might occur in public place, including, but not limited to, markets, public transport, streets or parks, or it might occur in private places including, but not limited to work places, private gatherings, or homes.