THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A woman Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) faced an attack from a passenger in Chennai Mail that departed from Thiruvananthapuram, on Tuesday. The railway police booked Roji Chandran, working in the Merchant Navy, from Aluva, in connection with the incident.
The incident happened before the train reached Kollam. Rajani Indira, the TTE who was on duty in the train, alleged that a middle-aged man tried to hit her with his hands after he was asked to vacate the berth booked by a woman passenger. She also complained that the policemen on duty at the Kollam station did not act based on her complaint.
Later the railway police at Kayamkulam took Roji into custody based on the complaint from the TTE and some of the passengers in the compartment.
However, the railway police played down the incident. “There was a verbal duel between the TTE and the accused in an AC compartment. The incident was blown out of proportion in the wake of recent attacks against TTEs,” said an officer in Kollam. They have charged Section 353 against Roji for obstructing a public servant from discharging her duty.
TTEs have been complaining about the lack of support from the police when dealing with passengers. At the beginning of this month, a migrant labourer fatally pushed a TTE outside a moving train at Thrissur.