What would you do if you were in my situation?
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Three or four days ago, I had an incident at a local traffic police training center where I was taking driving lessons. I wrote everything down immediately afterward while my memory was still fresh, because I didn't want to forget any details.
During my scheduled 11:00 AM–12:30 PM session, the instructor asked me and several other male trainees to leave the vehicle so that two female trainees and a male companion who had arrived late could take our place. The women apparently had a separate morning session. I later asked the instructor, respectfully, why they weren't attending that session. He said they had jobs. I told him I completely understood and had no problem with that.
He became hostile anyway, telling me that if I had a problem, I should go to the office or call 15.
This wasn't the first time we'd had an issue. A few days earlier, while I was driving, a car appeared directly in front of us and I applied the brakes. He angrily told me not to use the brakes and said, essentially, that he was the teacher and I had to listen to whatever he said. Only afterward did he explain that he wanted to teach me car control at higher speeds. I told him that if he'd simply explained that beforehand, there wouldn't have been an argument.
After that, I felt he had developed a personal grudge against me.
On this particular day, when he became aggressive, I took out my phone and started recording, calmly asking him to repeat what he'd said.
He immediately grabbed me by the neck and forcefully snatched my phone.
I didn't retaliate.
I took out my second phone to call my father. He grabbed that one too.
He then forced me to give him the passcodes to both phones and went through my personal photos and audio files, including a private recording of a medical consultation. He found the video I'd recorded, deleted it, and even checked Google Photos to make sure it was gone. Fortunately, he didn't realize it was still in the Trash.
When I asked for my phones back so I could call my father, he refused and told me to come to the main office.
I expected the senior officer there to at least listen to what had happened. Instead, when I tried to greet him, he grabbed my hand and tried to pull me by the arm. I explained everything, including the fact that the instructor had grabbed my neck and taken my phones.
The assault itself was basically ignored.
Instead, the senior officer went into a discussion about women not being safe in Pakistan and made comments involving whether I would send my sister to a market where men might touch her.
When I continued asking for accountability, he threatened me twice, saying he could register an FIR against me within two minutes by adding false charges, including harassment of women, and asking what would happen to my career.
I am 19 years old, sitting there trying to process what was happening. I had tears in my eyes, but I didn't cry in front of them. Eventually, I realized that arguing further wasn't going to make me safer or get me justice.
So I stayed quiet, shook their hands, thanked them, took my phones and evidence, and left.
I never physically retaliated. I didn't threaten anyone. I didn't break any law.
The next day, I contacted several lawyers online. I spoke to around 4–5 people, and their advice was almost perfectly divided. Some told me to let it go because the instructor is human and may have made a mistake, especially in the heat and stress of the situation. Others told me I should formally complain and then publish the video.
And that's where I'm completely stuck.
I have a large family and people I could potentially contact through the army and police, but I haven't told anyone, not even my family. I deliberately don't want to involve them unless absolutely necessary. I don't want this to turn into something that drags on for years.
At the same time, I genuinely don't know how I would feel about myself if I simply let this go.
Someone grabbed me by the neck, took both my phones, forced me to reveal my passwords, went through my private data, and then I was threatened with false criminal charges when I asked for accountability.
Part of me wants to publicly expose him because I don't believe this should simply disappear.
Another part of me is worried that escalating it could make things much worse.
So I'm asking people here honestly:
If you were in my exact situation, what would you do?
I'm not looking for sympathy. I genuinely feel helpless because I'm getting completely different advice from people who claim to know the legal side of this, and I don't know which decision I'll regret less.
(Post text polished using Ai)