3 min readKharkhaudaDec 4, 2014 03:58 PM IST
First published on: Dec 4, 2014 at 02:56 AM IST
Family members of accused Kuldeep at their Aasan village residence on Monday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
Days after the video of two Rohtak sisters beating their alleged “harassers” on a Haryana roadways bus went viral, three passengers and three residents of the sisters’ village have come forward with testimonies and affidavits to support the three youths currently under arrest. The affidavits were submitted on Wednesday to the Haryana police.
According to Pradeep Malik, lawyer of the three youths under arrest, passengers Sonia Mittal (24), Bimla Dahiya (51) and Vikram Singh (45) have come out in their support and punch holes in the sisters’ version of the incident, while three residents of Thana Khurd village have submitted affidavits on the “character” of the sisters. The affidavits from all three passengers end with a “personal opinion” that “the boys were innocent and the girls were responsible for the incident”.
Witness Sonia Mittal claimed she overheard the sisters asking an as yet unidentified woman to support them and start record a video on her phone. Seconds after the woman agreed, the sisters started hitting the three youths who had harassed them earlier. Haryana police have since arrested three after the sisters — who will be felicitated by the Haryana Government on Republic Day — lodged a complaint.
Mittal stated in her affidavit that seconds before the fight between the sisters — Aarti and Pooja — and the three suspects turned physical she heard the two sisters ask another passenger for “support”. “It was clearly audible when they told her, ‘Hamara saath degi na? Bas video bana lio’ (Will you support us, just record a video). Pooja, then picked up a fight again and before the boy could react, she took out a belt from her bag and both sisters started beating him.”
In similar affidavits to the police, two other passengers, Bimla Dahiya and Vikram Singh, also claimed the sisters started fighting with the youths.
Three other affidavits — from Surjeet Kaur, Bimla and Sarita from Thanakhurd village, where the sisters live — cast aspersions on the sisters’ “character”, and one even accused their father of kidnapping her son. Police on Wednesday also recorded statements of bus conductor Labh Singh (24) and driver Balwan Singh (51), both currently under suspension.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Aarti asked why the women who filed the affidavits had not spoken up when the incident happened. “They should have beaten me up in the bus itself. Or spoken up in Kansala chowki in favour of the boys. Why did they not do so? We have now uploaded a video where Kuldeep’s father was beating him in Sadar police station after the incident happened. If he was not wrong, why did they beat their own son?”
Meanwhile, Pooja rubbished allegations that the belt was in her bag. Demonstrating that it took her “less than 20 seconds” to take off her belt.
Family members of accused Kuldeep at their Aasan village residence on Monday. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
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