Mumbai’s Government Railway Police on Monday registered a complaint after a 22-year-old woman shared a post on Facebook, claiming that a man had masturbated at her in a local train and threatened to rape her. The woman also alleged that she had called the helpline but the official had laughed off her complaint.
The GRP is trying to identify the official who did not take the woman’s complaint seriously and disconnected the line. “We are verifying the complainant’s call records to find out who she called,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (GRP) Purushottam Karad told the Hindustan Times.
On Monday, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu ordered an inquiry after her social media post went viral. He said “strict action” will be taken against the guilty.
The incident had taken place on May 24 around 4 pm when the woman was travelling from Borivli to Dadar. At first, the accused verbally abused another woman sitting beside the complainant in the ladies compartment. After a while, the man, who was in the adjacent compartment for handicapped people, began to do the same with the complainant. The two compartments are separated by a safety railing.
The police, however, have denied that the official had laughed at the woman’s complaint. They said they were looking into the complaint, and that a recording had confirmed that the official had not laughed at her.
According to the complainant’s Facebook post, the man began to masturbate at her before deboarding the train at Kandivli, which is one station after Borivli. He walked towards the ladies compartment and threatened to rape her before leaving, the woman alleged.
The woman dialed the Railway’s helpline to register a complaint and ask officials to arrest him. However, the official who had answered her call first laughed off the complaint and then disconnected the line, she claimed.
The police said they were examining CCTV footage at both Borivli and Kandivli. The Western Railway also said that two women officials will be deployed with the security helpline to register complaints, reported News18.
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