Discharged youths seek army jobs, call govt’s silence upsetting

ROHTAK: When the video of Sonepat sisters thrashing three Rohtak youths in a Haryana Roadways bus went viral on social media in 2014, they were hailed as bravehearts by the media and the state government.

TheManohar Lal Khattar-led Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) government, which had just assumed office in Haryana, had announced cash rewards for the sisters (Aarti and Pooja), besides honouring them on January 26 for their ‘act of bravery.’

However, now that a Rohtak court has dismissed the sister’s version, discharging the three accused — Kuldeep, Deepak and Mohit — of all charges; they wonder if the government will speak up of the injustice that was done to them and if will help them to rebuild their future.

“Government’s silence is quite upsetting. They bowed down under the media pressure and arrested us without any verification. The girls were conferred with bravery titles by politicians, while we lost our respect in the society,” said Deepak.

“Shouldn’t the government at least issue a statement in our favour?” he asked. Kuldeep and Deepak had cleared two rounds of army recruitment test. However, the Army had barred them to appear for the final exam after the incident. “We have passed the legal age to give the exam now. Our village panchayat met with CM Khattar at that time to vouch for our innocence,” said Kuldeep. “The CM had promised that the government will give us jobs if we’re proven innocent. Now, it should talk to the army to give us the opportunity,” he added.While leaders in the BJP government are yet to talk about the case that gave them their first blow in Haryana, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) member parliament (MP) Dushyant Chautala has requested defence minister Manohar Parrikar to consider Kuldeep and Deepak as special cases for jobs in the army, on Thursday.