Man caught on camera 'groping' topless woman at music festival

The shocking moment a man appears to grope a topless woman at a New Year's Eve music festival has been caught on camera.

The footage shows the man approaching the young woman who has glitter covering her chest at New Zealand's Rhythm & Vines festival in Gisborne on December 31.

After appearing to reach out and touch her chest he quickly retreats to his spot on a hill among friends but the disgruntled woman and her friend follow.

The woman's friend then throws a drink in the man's face before the topless woman lands several blows to the man's head.

The video was shared to Facebook by Giann Reece and quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views.

Ms Reece told the New Zealand Herald that she was impressed that the girls retaliated to the man's behaviour.

"It was pretty shocking [when it happened], but also kind of satisfying that they stood up for themselves."

Student Madeline Anello-Kitzmiller, 20, from the US, has been identified as the woman approached in the clip and she has revealed her anger at the video being taken down by Facebook, wanting gropers to be held accountable for their actions.

"There's a lot of people saying I deserved it or I was asking for it, but the fact is people should be able to dress however they want... no matter what you wear your body is nobody else's but your own," Anello-Kitzmiller said.

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She said she had tried to avoid the negative comments on Facebook but revealed she was heartened with the response of a select few.

"We got [abused] constantly [while] walking around, but then we got people coming up and saying 'you look amazing', or 'I wish I had the confidence to do that', or 'I'm going to do that next time'."