MUMBAI: The woman passenger forced by RPF constable Chetansinh Chaudhary, who went on a rampage on a moving train and allegedly shot dead four persons in July 2023, to chant 'Jai Mata Di' at gunpoint, told a local court on Monday that she was targeted for wearing a burqa.
After chanting the religious invocation, the woman grabbed Chaudhary's rifle and moved it away from her.
The 38-year-old woman witness appeared before Additional Sessions Judge Y B Pathan, and narrated the sequence of events involving the then Railway Protection Force constable.
Chaudhary allegedly gunned down his senior colleague and assistant sub-inspector Tikaram Meena, and three passengers aboard the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express near Palghar railway station in Maharashtra on July 31, 2023.
He was apprehended near the railway tracks after the incident and has been in jail since then.
Recounting her encounter with the accused, the woman told the court that she was travelling with her two children on the day of the incident.
She had woken up at 5:30 AM and was wearing shoes for going to the washroom when he saw a man in a police uniform walking into the train compartment.
He pointed his rifle at the woman and told her in Hindi that 'if you want to stay in this country, you will have to say 'Jai Mata Di' (praise to the goddess).
The woman complied and uttered the invocation in a low voice.
However, the accused told her to repeat it loudly and threatened to shoot her if she didn't oblige.
At this point, the woman grabbed the rifle that was pointed towards her, raised it upwards, and questioned the man's identity.
The constable warned her not to touch the rifle or he would shoot her.
Scared, she released the gun, and the man walked away, the witness testified during examination by additional public prosecutor Sudhir Sapkale.
During her cross-examination by defence lawyer Jaywant Patil, the woman maintained that she was not lying about the incident and that the accused targeted her because she was wearing a burqa.
She identified Chaudhary, who appeared before the court through video conferencing.