A horrendous sexual assault on a 20-year-old girl by a 40-year-old porter in the ladies compartment of a running suburban train on Thursday sparked a public uproar over the issue of women safety in the country’s commercial capital even after the accused was arrested within eight hours after the incident.
Coming as it did on the heels of the rape and murder of a girl in a hostel at Marine Lines in south Mumbai and the macabre Mira Road murder of a woman by her live-in partner, the alleged sexual assault on a girl on a running Harbour Line suburban train prompted the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to pillory the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Government over the issue women’s safety and the breakdown of law and order in the State.
Taking serious cognisance of the sexual assault incident, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) on Thursday sought a report from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) police on the incident. The sexual assault, which took place on Wednesday, brought back the most unpleasant memories of the rape of a 12-year-old mentally challenged girl by a drunken man on a suburban train between Churchgate and Borivli on the intervening night of August 14-15, 2002 and the sexual assault perpetrated by a man in a coach reserved for handicapped passengers and cancer patients on the night of April 5, 2018
The disturbing incident - which saw a girl student being sexually assaulted by a railway porter on running train soon after the Panvel-bound local departed from the CSMT on Wednesday morning - has come as a big shock to the lakhs of suburban commuters, especially women, travelling by the Central, Western and Harbour suburban railway networks.
The girl was on her way from Mumbai to Belapur in the satellite township of Navi Mumbai to appear in an examination when the incident took place on board the Panvel-bound train immediately after it left CSMT at 7.27 AM on Wednesday. After the girl raised an alarm, the accused porter jumped off the train at the Masjid station.
Acting swiftly, the joint teams of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested the accused -- Nawaz Khan — within eight hours of the incident.
Talking to media persons, Deputy Commissioner of Police Manoj Patil said it was a case of sexual assault. "Immediately after the incident was reported, we began investigations and arrested the accused within hours," he said.
After the incident was reported, teams of GRP, Railway Protection Force (RPF), crime branch and Mumbai Police personnel launched a manhunt for the accused. "We examined footage of CCTV cameras inside and outside the Masjid station. We identified the accused and arrested him at around 4 PM," a senior police official said.
The accused was on Thursday produced before a city Magistrate’s court which remanded him to police custody for six days.
Meanwhile, MSCW chairperson Rupali Chakankar directed the CSMT Police Station to investigate the incident and submit its report to the women’s panel.
"Lakhs of women travel daily by suburban trains. There is a need to ensure their safety. We have asked the police and other authorities to take safety precautions to ensure against repeat of such incidents," Chakankar said.
Describing the incident as "outrageous" and "very disturbing" the newly-appointed NCP Working President Supriya Sule said; "This is very disturbing and the issue of security in Mumbai local trains has once again come to the fore… Criminals have no fear of the law in Maharashtra due to the inaction of the Home Department," said Sule, demanding the strictest punishment to the accused for the heinous crime.
Maharashtra Mahila Congress president Sandhya Savvalakhe wondered whether "the State Government, Home Department and the police in Maharashtra are alive or not".
"This shameful incident comes barely a week after the rape-cum-murder of a student in the (Savitridevi Phule Women’s Hostel). The recent incidents show a growing trend of violence against women in Mumbai," Savvalakhe said.
Savvalakhe said that while the country’s PM keeps showing the green flags to new trains, the infighting between the Shiv Sena-BJP in the State leaves them with no time to govern and ensure law and order, and demanded that "they must wake up now".
Condemning the incident, Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar questioned the efficiency of the State home department - headed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis himself - "in view of the alarming increasing crimes and violence against women in the past few days".