The Haryana Police is drawing flak for not being able to take any action after an incident of two sisters courageously taking on three youths, harassing them in a state transport bus while other passengers remained mute spectators, has come to light in Rohtak town.
The brave girls, Aarti and Pooja, thrashed the youths even as they were themselves assaulted by them. The girls hit one particular youth with a belt and their hands and legs in the incident that took place Friday.
The matter came to light after a woman travelling in the same bus recorded the incident on her mobile phone, police officials said Sunday.
Police, following a complaint by the girls, registered a case against the youth. No arrests have been made so far.
"We fought the assaulters all alone. No one came forward to help us as the youth hit us and even pushed us out of the moving bus," said Aarti and Pooja.
The father of the girls alleged that police officials were mounting pressure on them to strike a compromise in the matter.
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The girls alleged that the boys were blowing kisses at them and throwing slips towards them on which their mobile phone numbers were written. When the girls objected to this, the youth made lewd gestures and passed comments on them. A fellow woman passenger also objected but she was also harassed by the youths.
Other passengers in the bus, including the bus driver and conductor, did not come to rescue or help the two girls. The bus kept moving as the girls were being assaulted.
The sisters claimed that the bus stopped after some distance and the youth, and his accomplices, pushed them out of the moving bus and started hitting them. While one girl fell on the road, the other one fell in a field.
One of the sisters then attacked the youth with a brick after which he fled from the spot.
The bus crew and other passengers neither helped the girls nor did they inform police.
The girls called up the police and women helpline but failed to get any response.
"The helpline attendant told us that they will call up in two minutes. But we got no call and no help," Aarti said.
Their father Rajesh Kumar said that police was trying to pressurize him and his daughters to strike a compromise on the issue and not to pursue the matter.
The girls alleged that when the youth, who harassed them, were taken to the police station, the police official on duty told them (the girls) that nothing would be achieved by filing a complaint against them.
The youth were allowed to go despite the complaint, the girls alleged.
Police officials claimed that the matter was being investigated.
Two teenaged girl students in Rohtak town, Madhu and Nikita, had committed suicide August this year by consuming poison-laced juice after being harassed by boys. They were fed up by constant stalking by the boys when they used to go for their coaching classes.