Three men held for harassing female passenger on Rajdhani

Ranchi: The government railway police (GRP) station here on Sunday lodged an FIR against three men from Sahibganj for harassing their fellow passenger — a 22-year-old woman from Bokaro – onboard the Ranchi-bound Rajdhani Covid Special Express from New Delhi in the early hours of Sunday.
GRP Ranchi SP Anand Prakash said the FIR was lodged against Mohammad Bahrauddin, Ghulam Makhtum Ashraf and Bahrauddin based on the woman’s complaint after the train arrived at Ranchi railway station a little after 10 am. All accused are in the age group of 24 to 25 years.
In her complaint, the woman said she boarded B9 coach of the train from Kanpur Central railway station around 8:30 pm on Saturday. The three accused boarded the same coach from Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya junction station (formerly known as Mughalsarai) a little after 12:45am. While the woman was allotted berth number 47, the trio were booked on berth numbers 49, 52 and 55.
“In her complaint, the woman said the trio misbehaved, passed lewd comments and tried to touch her inappropriately. They also tried to click her photograph, to which she resisted. The incident happened around 3:30 am when the train was crossing Garhwa Road station,” Ramesh Kumar, officer-in-charge of Ranchi GRP station, told TOI.
The woman registered her complaint with the ‘Rail Madad’ portal, following which the Ranchi GRP swung into action. “Having spoken to her over the phone at 5:30am, I asked her fellow passengers to move her to an adjoining coach and ensure her safety. Upon disembarking at Ranchi, the trio was apprehended and handed over to the GRP,” divisional security commissioner Prashant Yadav said.
Ranchi GRP OC Ramesh Kumar said the case is being transferred to Garhwa Road GRP. “The accused will be sent to Garhwa for further legal proceedings,” he added.
Other passengers of the train said there were no RPF jawans escorted them on board during the entire 18-hour journey. Sources in the Ranchi rail division of SER said no escort parties are being provided as the RPF jawans are yet to get PPE kits. Recently, a guideline issued by the office of the RPF DG said jawans wearing PPE kits will only be deployed onboard trains for escort duty.
The Ranchi-bound Rajdhani Express arrived with 1,076 passengers. The New Delhi-bound train, which left at 5:40 pm, also had 1,076 passengers. Meanwhile, a Shramik Special train from Nagpur arrived at Hatia railway station with 732 passengers at 9:30am.