In perhaps the first such incident in the South, a 19-year-old girl was allegedly molested and thrown out of the moving Yeshwantpur-Mysore Express train (No. 17304) on Tuesday afternoon. As if this were not enough, the minister of state for railways, Mr K.H. Muniyappa, claimed he had “no clue” about the incident. The incident reportedly took place near Maddur in Mandya district, which is around 80 km from Bengaluru.
The victim Asha Rani, daughter of Sidaraju, is a native of Hubli and was living in Vidyaranyapuram in Mysore and was working at a garment factory. She had lost her parents and was living with her grandmother. Police said the victim had boarded the train in Bengaluru which reached Maddur at 1:30 pm. The accused, identified as Akbar, Imran, Rafeeq and Zuban, who work at a scrap shop in Kalyan Nagar in Mysore, boarded the train in Ramanagaram. Somewhere between Ramanagaram and Maddur, they tried misbehaving with her and tried to sexually abuse her.
The girl ran from bogie to bogie and screaming for help and looking for any security personnel, but could not get any help. She tried resisting her attackers and picked up an argument with them. When the train picked up pace after a halt at Maddur railway station, she was pushed out of the moving train. She fell down on the stones along the track and sustained injuries on her head and other parts.
A few fellow passengers, who witnessed the horrific incident unfold, immediately informed the local police who rushed to the spot and shifted the victim to the Government Hospital in Maddur where she was administered first aid. She was later shifted to the Government Hospital in Mandya where she is recovering. Meanwhile, police requested the passengers who had alerted them to catch hold of the accused and also alerted their counterparts in Mandya. By the time the train reached Mandya, the passengers on the train beat the accused black and blue and handed them over to the police. The Maddur railway police have recorded the victim’s statement and registered a complaint late in the evening.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, IGP Bhaskar Rao, who is in charge of Railway Police, said, “It’s a very shameful incident. Since there were no police personnel on the train, the accused dared to commit such a crime. We have arrested all the four accused and booked them for attempt to murder, outraging the modesty of a woman and also a few sections of the railway Act.”