BHUBANESWAR: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu came to the rescue of a female passenger of New Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express who was molested by a 50-year-old fellow passenger on Thursday. Help arrived after she posted about the incident on Facebook.
The accused, identified as Bani Prasad Mohanty, was de-boarded at Tatanagar after Prabhu directed the Railway authorities to take immediate action following a tweet from the woman’s friend. A team of TTEs and Railway Protection Force (RPF) took Mohanty under custody and handed him over to Government Railway Police at Tatanagar. A case was registered and the 50-year-old, a govrnment servant who hails from Khurda in Odisha, was arrested.
Sources said the young woman, a student at Delhi University, was sleeping on her berth when Mohanty tried to grope her. The woman, startled by the act, went numb for a few minutes, but then confronted the man though she had not brought the matter to the notice of the TTEs.
East Coast Railway (ECoR) sources said the woman passenger posted the matter on Facebook shortly after the Bhubanewar-New Delhi train passed Kharagpur Station. Her friend tweeted it tagging Prabhu and Indian Railway.
The Railway Minister immediately took up the matter and directed the authorities to rush help. A team of three TTEs, escorted by RPF, rushed to the compartment and took Mohanty under custody after the young woman identified him.
“It was ensured that the lady did not have to go out of the coach to give her statement which was recorded on board. As soon as the train reached Tatanagar Station, the accused was de-boarded and handed over to GRP,’’ Chief Public Relations Officer JP Mishra said.
Even after the accused was de-boarded, the Railway staff checked back on the woman during rest of her journey in order to make her comfortable, Mishra said and appealed to passengers to use security helpline 182 in such situations.
In her Facebook, the woman recounted how she mustered courage and not only confronted the man but also shamed him for his action.
‘’I screamed at him at the top of my voice till he said that he was the one who tried to molest me. I could see how embarrassed he was to be insulted before 10 other men and five women,’’ she said. She also urged women to speak up against such men. ‘’We can at least try to put them to shame for acting like animals so that their conscience pricks them when we look into their eyes with anger and make them realise their sins,’’ said the post which attracted praise for her action.
Meanwhile, Mohanty, a laboratory assistant with Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Directorate, has been placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry initiated against him.