KOCHI: A 16-year-old girl was allegedly molested by a group of men on board the Ernakulam-Guruvayur special express train while she was travelling with her father on Saturday. The incident took place around 7.50pm after the train left Ernakulam North railway station. The girl’s father alleged the men were in an inebriated state and attacked him and another youth when they intervened. The Thrissur railway police have booked five persons.
The father said he and his daughter had boarded the last coach of the train and were headed to Thrissur, their native place. “Six men were sitting opposite us. They were in an inebriated state. The coach was largely empty,” said the father, adding that the men started passing lewd comments on his daughter right from the time the train left the station.
“One of them touched my daughter’s leg. She told me about it and I questioned them. However, all six men used foul language and manhandled me. A youth who was in the compartment tried to intervene but he too was assaulted,” alleged the father. He said the men got more aggressive when he and the youth tried to click their photographs. “They tried to snatch our phones, but we managed to click a few pictures,” he said.
‘Railway guard didn’t act’
A Thrissur railway police official said the girl’s complaint said the men touched her leg and tried to molest her. “We have registered a case under IPC Section 354 as well as the Pocso Act against five of them,” he said. “As per preliminary probe, the men are daily commuters and possess season tickets,” said a police official. The girl and her father alleged that the railway guard did not make any attempt to inform the police even though they informed him of the assault.
“He said any action can be taken only after the train reaches Chalakudy station. He did not contact the police over the phone,” said the father. When the assault didn’t stop and the guard refused to help, the father said he called up and alerted the Thrissur railway police, he said. However, all six men got down at the intermittent station and escaped. The Thrissur railway police said since the train originated from Ernakulam, the case will be handed over to the Ernakulam railway police.