The journalist justified her action on Twitter.
A video is going viral on social media, which shows a woman journalist slapping a boy for allegedly misbehaving during live broadcast. The incident took place in Pakistan, according to users who have posted the clip on Twitter. The journalist was reporting about the recent holiday of Eid-al Adha, which was observed on Sunday (July 9), when the incident took place. The clip has been viewed more than 400,000 times since being posted on Monday.
The journalist can be seen surrounded by locals, including women and children. A young boy in white shirt is seen standing close to her. While she was presenting her piece to camera, the boy lifted his arm and called for another person. Though his voice is inaudible, the gesture clearly enraged the journalist who slapped him.
Many users on Twitter claimed that the boy said something uncalled for that caused the journalist to lose her cool. Many users asked the owner of the handle who posted the video for the reason of the slap, but got "DK (Don't Know)" in reply.
The journalist's behaviour has left Twitter divided. While some users supported her, others said her actions were unnecessary.
"Yeah but who gave you the right to slap someone's kid Ike that ... disappointing!" a user commented. "He was irritating," another user replied.
"The man would definitely have misbehaved," another user said, according to a translation of the post from Hindi.
After the buzz on social media, Maira Hashmi - the journalist - offered an explanation. Ms Hashmi tweeted to say that the boy was bullying one of the families during the live broadcast. Ms Hashmi further said she did not want to tolerate the behaviour.
The journalist has more than 9,800 followers on Twitter.