ISLAMABAD-A video of a female driver angrily shouting at a passerby and police officials went viral on social media Wednesday and sparked a debate about ethnic prejudices and elitism.
The unidentified female went on an angry tirade apparently after being told by a police officer not to use a mobile phone while driving. A passerby started making a video of the shouting match on his mobile phone as the woman argued with the police. This infuriated the woman even more; she questioned why was she being filmed. She was asked if the police officer had demanded a bribe from her. She replied in negative but claimed that the police officer spoke to her indecently in Punjabi. Her response left the onlooker aghast and later elicited widespread criticism on the social media as Twitterati. People lamented the woman’s behaviour as entitled and arrogant. Many said that equating speaking Punjabi with being uncouth and indecent was not justified. Some users said that speaking Punjabi is often seen as low-brow and even many educated Punjabi parents, weighed under an inferiority complex, are reluctant to teach their children the mother tongue. It was not clear whether the woman in question was incensed at being spoken to in Punjabi or was angry at some Punjabi pejorative thrown at her by the police official. “He should talk to me in a decent language. This is not the way,” the fuming woman told the onlookers at a traffic barrier in the Red Zone of Islamabad.
When confronted that her own behaviour was unjustified, she told the person filming her to “shut up” and not intervene any further. “Who the hell are you?” She shouted. The unidentified man responded that he is a crime reporter.
The incident took place within the jurisdiction of the Secretariat Police Station. Officials at the police station told The Nation that no complaint was filed either by the man filming the video or the woman driver. She was let go and no further investigation was made, a police official said. It seems no one wanted any further escalation.
Yasir Masood Afaq, Founding Director and Clinical Psychologist, House of Wellness Mental Health Treatment and Resource Center, Islamabad termed the incident as an “erratic behavior with out-of-proportion reaction.”
“Any preexisting botheration or life situation might be a factor to trigger the woman’s reaction, which is unreasonable and uncalled for -- socially and ethically,” Mr. Afaq said.
The psychologist said ‘Road Rage’ is another commonplace phenomenon these days owing to highly stressful traffic conditions and may trigger such behavior. He was of the view that the attribution towards “Punjabi language” as an inferior language is indicative of some maladaptive behavior and racial prejudice.