The videos of the alleged assault and manhandling of a salesman by a group of girls in Lahore's Garden Town recently stirred controversy on social media about who was at fault in the case.
The young ladies who termed it a case of “sexual harassment” were seen beating the salesman at a tuckshop at a fuel pump, for allegedly harassing and laughing at them.
The police registered a case against him on the girls' complaint but later discharged him and proceeded to file a torture case against the former complainants under charges of physical assault.
Looking at the CCTV footage of the incident that took place two days back, the salesman’s claims seemed reasonable as the girls who were standing at the cash counter attacked him after speaking to him angrily.
However, Pakistani actor Mariyam Nafees said otherwise while speaking in defence of the girls, who she said are now receiving “death and rape threats”.
“Those girls started beating him [salesman] as a last resort when he passed remarks on their bodies,” she said in a video statement on her Instagram stories, claiming that the salesman commented on the young women’s character.
Mariyam said that one of the girls was a good friend of her and another had come from a different city in need of work, stressing that none of them had an influential background.
The actor further claimed that the girls didn’t attack the salesman out of the blue as they had first rebuked him for his comments, to which he “started hurling abuses” and “filthy words” at them.
She said that the scene was created and the girls faced “harassment just because they were wearing western clothes” and were out late at night.
The actor went on to demand the voice recording of the incident from the fuel pump’s owner as the “proof” of harassment against the women.
The actor said she has raised a voice on the matter was because no one was looking at the “other side of the story”.
Sources said that the police had a re-investigation of the case after the case filed a torture case against the three girls for assaulting him.