Chandigarh, Nov. 30: Two college-going sisters thrashed three youths in a Haryana government bus after being allegedly molested as co-passengers looked the other way, only to be thrown out by the conductor and the driver.

Aarti and Pooja rained punches on their tormentors and lashed them with belts in the incident that occurred on Friday near Rohtak and was filmed by a co-passenger on a cellphone. The clip has since gone viral.

The girls alleged the youths targeted them often and they were fed up of the harassment.

But after Aarti and Pooja were thrown out, the boys got off the bus, rained blows on the sisters and scampered back into the vehicle that sped away. No one in the bus informed police.

The youths — Mohit, Kuldeep and Deepak — were arrested this evening, after two days, following the efforts of the girls’ father, who accused the police of trying to hush up the case.

“The police had asked me to settle the matter amicably. There was also pressure from the panchayat to withdraw the complaint,” Rajesh Kumar said, adding that the youths were from a neighbouring village.

On Friday, the sisters had boarded the bus after classes at a college in Rohtak town to get home to Kharkhoda village, 35km away.

Speaking to journalists today, Aarti and Pooja said they retaliated after one of the youths held one of their necks.

The duo said they had expected male passengers to come to their rescue after they raised the alarm. Instead, some found fault with the girls, they alleged.

“The three youths were not only making lewd remarks but lewd gestures too, blowing kisses towards us and throwing slips of paper with their phone numbers. A woman passenger, who appeared pregnant, objected but they began harassing her too after that,” Aarti said.

The girls’ father said he had filed a complaint with the police immediately after his daughters informed him of the incident.

“I had identified the boys’ village,” Kumar said, adding the police deliberately waited for two days before taking action.

A Rohtak police officer said the youths had been booked under provisions that could send them to jail for up to three years, if guilty.

“It is despicable that no one in the bus tried to help. Efforts are on to identify the driver and the conductor,” the officer said.