[VIDEO] Two Girls Fight Off Their Harassers On Public Bus While Others Silently Watch
In a mobile phone video that is now viral, the girls are seen thrashing the offenders, even using a belt, while other commuters just watch.
By Sadho Ram — 02 Dec 2014, 05:09 AM — Updated almost 10 years ago
Last week, 26 November, when two young girls were harassed by three men on a public bus full of people in northern India, they hit back. Literally. As this footage filmed by a passenger shows, the girls, aged 19 and 22 and reported to be sisters, strike the men and use a belt to beat them up while fellow passengers watched.
The men threw chits of paper, reportedly with their mobile phone numbers, at the girls. They started passing comments and got bolder as they saw no one else reacting, not even the driver and conductor of the bus. After enduring their lewd comments, abuses, obscene gestures and touches, the sisters decided to act.
As per a report by BBC Hindi, the incident happened when the two girls, identified as Aarti, 22-year-old and Pooja, 19-year-old, were on their way home from Rohtak, 112 km northwest of New Delhi
Younger sister Pooja told BBC Hindi that the three young men "threatened us and abused us".
"The men started to abuse me and touch me. I told them 'if you touch me again, you'll get beaten up'. They called a friend on the phone and told him to 'come over because we have to beat up some girls'," Pooja said.
She said they decided to take on the attackers when other passengers did not come to their help.
"No one came forward in the bus to help us. So we took out our belts in self-defence [and hit the men]. If only the other passengers had helped us, we would not have needed to retaliate in this way," she said.
Police say they received a call from the sisters on Friday afternoon, and as the video clip provoked a flood of reactions on social media, it was after two days, late on Sunday night, that all three men, identified as Kuldeep, Mohit and Deepak, were arrested
Indian police arrested the three men shown in the footage on Sunday evening and are investigating them under an Indian law that deals with assaults on women barring rape, Shashank Anand, the superintendent of police in Rohtak in Haryana where the bus was traveling said.
The arrests were made in response to a formal complaint made by the women before the footage was made public.
Police said the three men – identified by their first names as Kuldeep, Mohit and Deepak- are in custody and do not so far have lawyers. The men could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Meanwhile, as police were contemplating taking action against the bus driver and the conductor of the bus, the Harayana government has placed them under suspension for dereliction of duty
"The driver was supposed to take the bus to the nearest police station. But he did not do so. The conductor also did not intervene. We are considering legal action against them," Senior police official S Anand said.
Meanwhile, the Director General of Police and the head of the Transport Department have been directed to take effective steps for ensuring the safety and security of passengers especially women travelling in the Haryana Roadways buses.
As per a report by NDTV, the men were going to join the army
"Their parents came to meet our father, said change the statement - they are about to join the army...their lives will be ruined. What about our lives? Can men like these protect our country?" the girls said.
ndtv.com
The men, all from one village, were going to join the army. "There is no place for such men in the Indian army," said Army Sources, indicating that their application might be rejected.
ndtv.com
For their feisty act, the sisters will be felicitated by Chief Minister ML Khattar on Republic Day and will receive Rs. INR31K each
Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana’s newly elected chief minister told reporters on Monday that the two young women would be congratulated for their “act of bravery” on India’s Republic Day on Jan. 26.
Talking about the incident, young Puja said such men, who normally threaten girls with violence or rape, are actually weak
“A woman’s rape starts the moment she withstands the dirty looks of such men. If you hit back hard, then only you can survive, otherwise if you yield to their advances then rape is imminent.”
Her father, Rajesh Kumar, expressed hope that the bravery shown by his daughters would encourage other girls too to not give in to the advances of wayward men.