Minar-e-Pakistan incident: 66 people arrested through geo-fencing, face matching

• Police arrest 66 people through geo-fencing and face matching in the case.
• Out of the 66 arrested suspects, 40 have been sent for an identification parade after being produced in court.
• Shahbaz Gill confirms 66 people have been arrested.

LAHORE: The police on Saturday said they have arrested 66 people over their alleged involvement in the assault on a female TikToker at Lahore's Greater Iqbal Park on Independence Day.

Deputy Inspector General (Investigations) Shariq Jamal said that they have questioned over 300 people in the case so far. Of those, over 100 people were taken into custody for further questioning, the police officer said, adding that their whereabouts that day were traced using geo-fencing and face matching.

Then, with "digital mobile forensics", the 66 who were found to be present on location were arrested, of which 40 were sent for an identification parade after being produced in court, he said.

Once the identification parade concludes, the investigation will be taken further, Jamal added.

The police officer said that the TikToker who was attacked and her colleagues will identify the suspects during the parade and the remaining suspects "will also be arrested soon".

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Political Communication Shahbaz Gill confirmed that 66 people have been arrested in the Minar-e-Pakistan incident.

Regarding another incident of the harassment of a girl in an auto-rickshaw, Gill said that an FIR had been registered and vowed to bring the culprits to justice soon.

PM Imran Khan takes notice of female Tiktoker's assault

On August 18, Prime Minister Imran Khan had taken notice of the Minar-e-Pakistan incident where a female Tiktoker was assaulted by a mob of hundreds of men.

A close aide of the PM, Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari tweeted that PM Imran Khan personally spoke to IG Punjab on the manhandling of the woman and the vandalisation of Ranjit Singh’s statute at Lahore Fort.

The Minar-e-Pakistan incident came to light after a video went viral on social media, showing hundreds of men attacking a woman as she sought to record a TikTok video with four of her friends to celebrate Independence Day.

The police registered a case against 400 men for assaulting the woman.

Culprits being identified through videos

Earlier, Punjab government spokesman Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said that the culprits are being identified through video footage.

“The incident of assault on a woman in Greater Iqbal Park is a shameful act which has brought shame to the society,” Fayyaz Chohan said in a statement.

He said that the accused involved in the video are being identified and will be brought to justice.