These women gangs are big menace in Punjab as well. They come from the certain socio-economic backgrounds. I must add these crook ladies are just very small number otherwise these communities are known to be very hardworking people with distinct features and culture.
Due to very strong pro-women laws no one dare to go physical like these Pakistani fools. Their antics and defence mechanism are very well known to everyone. In cities, people get alarmed seeing them moving together especially in markets, wholesale stores and shops with goods displayed outside.
In Ludhiana these women would sit besides young lads in buses or auto rickshaws to distract and then pick their pockets or snatch mobile phones. Trust me these women can be very attractive as well. To digress, during my last visit to India for a month, out of which for a week, I stayed in Lajpat Nagar New Delhi. The only beautiful girl I saw on my last day in Delhi was a hardworking girl from this community selling some neon light spectacles on a traffic light.
The strong pro-women laws in India have their own evolution and good or bad reasons; generally good. Before that there were many instances when these women were captured, beaten or put through humiliation. In reaction to that they also developed such defence mechanisms to out humaliate men by showing them as rapists or sexual abusers. To tear own clothes was one of those defence mechanisms.
There was a case 2 decades ago which changed the police and public behaviour as a very strong public reaction forced Political power to enact certain protocols for police. In one of such cases a tattoo reading ‘pickpocket’ was engraved on their foreheads.
These petty theft cases are still happening. People just take precations and get police involved as soon as possible. Not to mention the Police reaction time has improved a lot in last 2 decade.