Man held for harassing woman in train, gets bail

A 30-year-old man was arrested on charges of harassing a woman in a moving Doon Express on Wednesday. 

The incident took place somewhere in between Burdwan and Bandel stations. 

According to the complainant, an altercation broke out between the accused and the woman after the Howrah bound Doon Express had left Burdwan station. 

The accused was sitting in front of her berth. The situation took a worse turn when the accused, Rabi Shankar, had allegedly started harassing her. 

Shankar and another youth, who was accompanying him, had also passed lewd comments at her. The woman finally pulled the chain when the train reached Bandel station. Shankar and his friend jumped out of the train and attempted to flee. Hearing the woman’s cry, people present at Bandel station caught Shankar while his friend had managed to flee. 

Shankar was handed over to the officers of the Government Railway Police. The railway authorities, however, claimed that they had rushed to the coach and arrested the accused. 

The woman had reached Howrah station in the same train and lodged a complaint. 

She had also mentioned that she had dialed the emergency helpline number 182 and 183 but it was of no help. So she had to pull the chain. 

Meanwhile, Shankar was granted bail after he was produced before Chinsura Court. The court reprimanded the police as there was no copy of the complaint in the case diary that the investigating officer had submitted before the court. There was no medical report and statements of the eyewitnesses as well. It may be mentioned that a minor girl was gang raped in the moving Amritsar Express allegedly by three jawans. 

On Tuesday night, some youth beat up passengers when a Diamond Harbour local reached Mallickpur station. Five people were injured in the incident.  

Manoj Ganguly, who travels almost every day from Rishra to Howrah station, said steps should be taken to assure security of passengers while travelling.