Two Sisters Fought Their Abusers, And Won

After being allegedly harassed and touched by three men on a moving bus in India, two sisters began attacking their sexual abusers. Another passenger caught the entire incident on video, which shows the two young women taking matters into their own hands as the rest of the passengers sit by and do, well, absolutely nothing. The men got the sisters kicked off the bus, but the girls have had the last laugh; the men have been arrested, and the women are being applauded by, uh, pretty much everybody ever.

The bus incident took place last Friday in the northern state of Haryana. The two sisters, 22-year-old Aarti and 19-year-old Pooja, were on their way home from their college in the Rohtak district when three men made unwanted advances on them on the moving bus. Pooja recounted the incident to the BBC:

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."

Wow. First of all, these "men" barely deserve that title. As if preying upon two young women weren't bad enough, you had to call for backup? That's just sad. Still, they got the rude awakening that they deserved.

Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

After none of the fellow passengers came forward to help the girls, the two realized that they had to defend themselves and each other. Proving that they're forces to be reckoned with — and anyone who does will be sorry — the girls immediately took off their belts and started lashing at the men. Either they've taken self-defense classes (which often teach students to employ common objects as weapons) or they're just inherently badass. The men cowered.

Pooja explained that this was not the course of action that she and her sister would've preferred to take, telling the BBC:

If only the other passengers had helped us, we would not have needed to retaliate in this way.

In the end, the sisters said the men pushed them off the bus and started attacking them again. The sisters countered by throwing a brick at them, and the men finally fled.

Justice Was Served

According to police, the men have been arrested and charged with assault. They have been sent to judicial custody until December 6. As for the sisters? The Haryana government announced on Monday that it will honor the two sisters on Republic Day and give them a cash reward for their bravery.

Disturbingly Reminiscent of a Past Incident

This latest encounter is especially prominent in light of the 2012 incident in which a female student was gang raped on a moving bus in Delhi. The 23-year-old victim was traveling with a male companion on a private bus when the driver and five other passengers, all of whom raped the girl and beat her male friend. The woman died later while undergoing treatment in Singapore. Since then, female safety has been a priority for the Indian government, who has implemented aggressive new laws to combat sexual assault. But as these two sisters show, sometimes legislature is not enough and your most reliable defense is yourself.

Images: Marunadan Malayalee/YouTube, Getty Images (1)