THANE: A 19-year-old student from a Malad college was allegedly molested by an unidentified man outside the lavatory of an AC coach of the Mumbai-bound
Konark Express in the early hours of Sunday.
The police said that the man also tried to drag her out of the compartment. But when she raised an alarm, some passengers came to her aid and the assailant jumped off the train that was pulling out of Thane station.
The victim, who belongs to a middle-class family and stays with her parents in the western suburbs, shared her ordeal on a social networking website after which the
Railway Police registered an FIR. Officials are perusing
CCTV footage and said they have some leads. The first-year Arts student was returning home from
Odisha and was travelling with her elder sister.
After the girl tweeted about her ordeal, the Railway Police met her at her home and recorded her statement. "We are in the process of registering a molestation case under Section 354 of the IPC. We got the description of the accused and are drawing his sketch. We are confident of nabbing him soon. CCTV footage of Thane and other stations where the train had halted is also being verified to track the accused," said
Uttam Sonawane, senior inspector of Thane railway police.
Activists have demanded that the railway administration scale up security measures at the station and deployment of personnel on trains during odd hours to discourage robbers and sex pests from targeting passengers. In 2014, an elderly woman was killed after a man tried to snatch her purse while she was trying to alight at Thane station.
(Representative image)
