Recently, Faysal Bank caught the ire of the public when it was discovered that management within the bank allegedly mandated that all female staff had to wear abayas. This was apparently being done in a bid to make the bank appear more in line with ‘Islamic’ values. While the female employees were asked to cover up, things for the male employees remained the same.

Now a video of an alleged Faysal Bank manager from a branch in Islamabad’s F-10 is circulating the internet, where he has harassed a female employee.

The video is incredibly triggering and shows the manager of the bank groping a female employee who is standing next to his desk. The video seems to be recorded secretly by another employee. Fair warning, the video is triggering. Therefore, we are adding a link to the same here.

People are disgusted at the video and are asking for authorities to take action and get the manager arrested and punished for his crime.

https://twitter.com/Aesthete_1038/status/1325071132945502210?s=20

Of course, there were apologists who thought the female staff members lack of response meant she was ‘okay’ with being harassed.

It must be remembered that when women are harassed, they can’t be reactionary, as it might land them in worse trouble. And in cases like these, where it is your alleged boss who is harassing you, you are in an even worse position because of the power dynamic involved. Raising your voice and reacting could lead you to get in trouble and potentially even lose your job.

The video went viral on social media and people started tagging the Deputy Commissioner for Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat, who replied and said that Islamabad police would arrest the man immediately.

https://twitter.com/hamzashafqaat/status/1325071101077168128?s=20

The prompt action promised by Hamza Shafqaat is great. However, it does raise the question: why does one have to record their ordeal of sexual harassment and then have it go viral for authorities to take action? It is incredibly disturbing that violence against women is so rampant within the country, but only cases that manage to go viral on social media are the ones taken seriously.

The recent case of Arzoo Raja, a young Christian girl who has been allegedly kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam only gained momentum when people started posting about it on social media. However, the issue of forced conversions has been rampant in the country against young Hindu and Christian girls.

Arzoo’s family was lucky enough to post about their situation on social media but there are potentially so many other young minority girls whose families do not have the tech literacy to even know that this is an option.

Perhaps, authorities need to take a long hard look at their functioning and determine why the situation is such. It should not take a trending hashtag to give value to the violence women face.