[1]ROHTAK: In a mobile phone video that has gone viral, two young girls are seen thrashing men on a bus, even using a belt, as the other passengers just watch. One man hits back and pushes the girls, but no one helps.
The three men had harassed the girls, who are sisters, constantly from the time they got on the bus from Rohtak in Haryana, a town about two hours from Delhi. Arati, 22, and Pooja, 19, were going home after college exams on Friday.
After enduring their lewd comments, abuses, obscene gestures and finally touches, the sisters decided to fight back. The incident was recorded by a woman passenger on mobile phone.
The sisters say they knew they would not get any help.”They threw chits with their mobile phone numbers at us. When my sister shouted, they started abusing us. On the bus, they made obscene gestures, touched us and abused us. We could not take it anymore and started beating them. One of the men grabbed my sister’s hand and the other held me by the neck. That’s when my sister took out her belt and started hitting them,” said Pooja.
“Others in the bus told us don’t do anything… they will rape you or pour acid on you. They will kill you…We were scared but we decided we had taken enough,” said her sister Arati.For their act, the feisty sisters have earned praise and admiration from across the country and online. The Haryana government has announced a Rs. 31,000 cash reward for each sister.
The girls were hurt when they were thrown off the bus by the men.As the video clip provoked a flood of reactions on social media, it was after two days, late on Sunday night, that the police said all three, Kuldeep, Mohit and Deepak, had been arrested. They have been booked for “assault or criminal force with intent to outrage woman’s modesty” among other charges.
The girls allege that the families of the men, who are from one village in Haryana, tried to pressure them.”Their parents came to meet our father, said change the statement – they are about to join the army…their lives will be ruined. Can men like these protect our country?” the girls said.
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