Sisters lauded for taking on molesters
Print Edition
TWO Indian sisters were showered with praise and cash yesterday after a video of them thrashing three alleged molesters on a moving bus was widely replayed.
Arti and Pooja Kumar, aged 22 and 19, were harassed by the men on a crowded bus last week while returning to their home in Rohtak, a district of largely rural Haryana state that borders New Delhi.
The sisters, using belts and their hands, were seen attacking the men who were also grabbing and shoving other women in the aisle while other passengers looked on.
Police arrested the men on Sunday night after mobile phone footage, shot by a pregnant fellow passenger, was uploaded on social media and replayed on India’s multiple 24 hour news channels.
Although many praised the girls’ bravery, others were scathing of the other passengers. Some of them were seen sniggering as the attacks took place. “Hats off to #RohtakBravehearts. N I despise such men who just sat and watched everything happening,” one posted on Twitter.
Braveheart was the term given by the media to the 23-year-old student who died after being gang-raped on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.
“Go brave girls! #girlrising and wake up bystanders! Its shameful, the only one who intervened was a pregnant woman!,” said actress Freida Pinto, star of “Slumdog Millionaire.”
“Bravo! #RohtakBravehearts 4 standing up against eve teasing. Hope you become role models for all girls who want to stand up against #eveteasing,” another Tweet said.
Rohtak police promised a speedy investigation into the incident on Friday, after the women said the men started abusing them when they rejected their advances.
“On the bus, they made obscene gestures, touched us and abused us,” Pooja said.
“We could not take it any more and started beating them. One of the men grabbed my sister’s hand and the other held me by the neck. That is when my sister took out her belt and started beating them,” she said.
“The kind of work that has been done by these two girls is praiseworthy,” Haryana Chief Minister M.L Khattar said while announcing a cash award for the two.
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