After courting controversy over her offensive social media post targeting army personnel, Ishita Pundeer, a social media influencer from Sirmaur, tendered an apology before the ex-servicemen at Rajgarh on Friday evening.Pundeer took the step after the controversy escalated and Sirmaur police was flooded with complaints demanding legal action against her. Accompanied by her relatives, she reached out to meet the representatives of the ex-servicemen organisation at Rajgarh.She admitted her mistake and clarified that she did not mean to hurt anyone’s feelings. Pundeer had posted an offensive video on her Facebook account, where she criticised army men.“The army men are not loyal to their girlfriends or their wives. They are definitely loyal to their nation, but they can never be loyal to their girlfriends or their wives. I’ve heard of many such cases, and girls will agree with me as 90 per cent of them are not loyal. I’m not talking about all of them. Though I have not had any such experience, but when they come on leave, they have four to five girlfriends,” Pundeer said in the video.She stated, “I apologise to all the soldiers and people of the country with folded hands. My intention in no way was to insult the army or the soldiers. This is an unintentional mistake made by me, which I deeply regret.”“I will not repeat any such mistake in the future and also appeal to all social media creators to be thoughtful before posting anything on social media on sensitive issues,” said Pundeer, adding a word of advice to the other social media users.Exhibiting generosity, the Ex-Servicemen Organisation’s Rajgarh unit said that while Ishita’s mistake was serious, she should be forgiven, considering that it was her foolishness. The organisation also announced that the complaint lodged at Rajgarh police station will be withdrawn, while giving the message that responsibility on social media is essential, even as one has the right to freedom of expression, as even a small comment made on sensitive issues can hurt the sentiments of lakhs.Apart from a complaint having been received from the ex-servicemen’s organisation at Rajgarh, Yadupati Thakur, general secretary, Pradesh Congress Committee, had also lodged a complaint against Pundeer, demanding appropriate action as they termed her post offensive.“The police have initiated criminal defamation proceedings under section 356(2) of the BNS after receipt of several complaints, and its report would be filed before a Rajgarh court on April 20 to proceed further as per the procedure,” informed SP Sirmaur Nishchint Negi.He added that if all complaints are withdrawn, they will not proceed further with the case on April 20, as it is a non-cognizable offence for which court directions have to be sought under section 356(2) of the BNS.All complaints had been clubbed as the police prepared to present their report before the court.Pundeer has 3.5 million-plus followers on Facebook and 10.9 lakh followers on Instagram. In her vlogs, she displays various aspects of ‘pahadi’ life. She hails from Deva Manal village in the Nohradhar area of Sirmaur district.