BENGALURU: A BMTC bus conductor has been suspended for assaulting a woman passenger in the city.
It is alleged that the woman first hit the conductor when he questioned her for not buying the bus ticket. A video of the incident recorded by another passenger has gone viral.
The incident took place on Tuesday around 10 am in the bus (route 368/6) plying between Bannerghatta National Park and Shivajinagar.
An employee of a fashion store on Commercial Street, the woman, who boarded the bus at Bilekahalli, is alleged to have not taken her ticket before the Gurappanapalya stage despite conductor Honnappa Nagappa Agasar’s repeated pleas.
An argument broke out between the woman and the conductor after she gave money for her ticket after the Gurappanapalya stage. When Agasar sought to know why she did not buy her ticket despite his repeated pleas before the stage, she allegedly slapped him. In retaliation, the conductor rained blows on her.
In her complaint, the woman stated that she doesn’t know Kannada as she hails from north India. She could not follow what the conductor was saying in Kannada. Moreover, the conductor did not issue her ticket when she asked for it, she said. A case of assault or criminal force to any woman (IPC 354), causing hurt (IPC 323), criminal intimidation (IPC 506) and intending to insult the modesty of any woman, utters any words, makes any sound or gesture (IPC 509), has been registered against the conductor by Siddapura police.