BENGALURU: A commuter who physically assaulted a Metro staffer at the National College Metro Station was made to pay Rs 500 as fine and submit an apology letter to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. A review of the CCTV footage at the station showed the victim being slapped repeatedly.
According to a senior Metro official, the incident took place around 9.30pm on March 14 inside a lift at the station. The passenger is a lawyer in his 50s while the victim works in the Operations and Maintenance Division.
An altercation between the two led to the incident, the official said. “The commuter entered the lift where the maintainer was present. The passenger asked the staffer to press a button to which he said that he had already done so,” he added. It is still not clear what exact words were exchanged after that. The lawyer got angry and slapped the staffer.
“The staffer asked him to come to the station controller’s room but the commuter walked away and got on to a train. The maintenance staffer followed him,” the official said. The lawyer alighted at Chickpet Metro Station and the staffer insisted that he go to the station controller’s room. The controller heard both the sides and took down the complaint filed by the maintainer. The lawyer was made to pay a fine of `500 for attacking the staffer,” he said.
The commuter was booked under the Metro Railway Act for obstructing an employee from performing his duty.
Metro officials took the men to V V Puram police station, but no FIR was filed. “After returning from the police station, the commuter went to the control room at National College Station. He also handed an apology letter to the station controller. The lawyer was then let off with a warning,” the official said.