Woman sprays pepper spray in crowded local train after seat row; video goes viral

Kolkata: A young woman allegedly sprayed pepper spray inside a crowded local train compartment, triggering chaos and leaving several passengers coughing and gasping for breath. The bizarre episode, caught on camera, has since gone viral on social media.

A video of the incident shows passengers confronting a woman in a green kurti, demanding to know why she had sprayed the irritant with children being on board. The clip also captures angry voices asking: “Why did you do this when there were children here?” and “How could you do this?” The authenticity of the video, however, has not been independently verified by Millennium Post.

According to the social media post accompanying the viral video (originally posted on September 26), the woman boarded the train at Sealdah and got into a heated argument with another female passenger over a seat. When she failed to secure the seat, she allegedly pulled out a pepper spray can from her bag and tried to spray it at the other woman’s face. The post claimed that another passenger intervened and stopped her, but the accused allegedly discharged the spray inside the compartment in anger. “Everyone started coughing, their throats and noses started burning. Two children began to feel unwell,” the eyewitness wrote.

Commuters surrounded the woman and demanded an explanation for her behaviour. She was later handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP).

The incident has sparked outrage on social media, with many users condemning the reckless misuse of pepper spray — typically carried by women for self-defence — in a crowded public transport setting.