JOIN USTwo sisters in Haryana’s Rohtak district showed exemplary courage by thrashing a man on a state roadway bus who, with two other accomplices, would not stop harassing them despite repeated warnings.
The main accused, along with his accomplices, was arrested late on Sunday by the Rohtak police in connection with the incident, which took place on Friday.
Sisters Aarti and Pooja had boarded the bus after college and were on their way home when a miscreant started to harass them, beginning with lewd remarks.
The sisters initially asked the man, reportedly a recent recruit to the military and a resident of Kansala village, to stop the misbehaviour, but to no effect. The man then reportedly threw chits at the girls with a number written on them.
When the harassment didn’t stop, the sisters decided to take matters into their own hands. When they first attacked the man, he hit them back with force, but they continued to hit him, despite being pushed around and thrown on the floor of the bus.
As the girls were pushed back, one of them pulled out her belt and whipped the miscreant with it.
Astonishingly, none of the passengers in the bus came forward to help the girls, instead sitting as mute spectators as the girls fought the man, initially with bare hands and then with their belt. Some passengers reportedly giggled through incident.
The girls were also hit by the accused, and suffered blunt-force injuries after they were pushed out of the bus. A fellow passenger recorded the entire incident, which reportedly took place on Friday, on a mobile phone.
The sisters, along with their father Rajesh Kumar, have now said the local Panchayat has been trying to pressure them into settling the matter “amicably”.
The village Panchayat, sources said, has been arguing that the accused was threatening to commit suicide since his employment could be at stake.
The state government will formally announce a reward of Rs 31,000 each for the sisters, and they would also be honoured at a function, said sources.