Mumbai: 20-year-old Woman Fights Back After Sexual Assault in Train; Accused Held Within Hours

Police said Thursday that a 20-year-old college student, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man on a moving suburban train in Mumbai, bravely resisted her attacker and forced him to flee.

The accused, a 40-year-old laborer from Kisanganj in Bihar identified as Nawaju Karim Sheikh, was arrested within four hours of filing a ticket following the incident on the Central Railway’s Harbor Line corridor on Wednesday morning. they said. He was accused of rape.

The incident sparked a strong reaction from the opposition in Maharashtra with NCP leader Ajit Pawar expressing his outrage and demanding swift punishment for the perpetrator.

The accident occurred around 7.30 am between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Railway Station (CSMT) and Masjid railway stations, when the victim, a resident of Girgaon in Mumbai, was going to her college in Navi Mumbai to appear for her exams, an official said.

He said the victim was sitting alone in a ladies’ compartment on the Panville-bound train when the accused entered the carriage just as it started moving from the CSMT station.

The accused targeted the female student after he found her alone in the room and began to sexually harass her, but the victim retaliated and screamed for help. He said she bravely resisted her attacker in an attempt to free herself from his clutches.

The official said that when the train reached the Masjid station, the first station after CSMT, the accused hurriedly got off and ran away.

Then the student went to the next compartment and reported the incident to the passengers, he said, adding that the Railway Police helpline 1512 had been contacted.

The official said that the State Railways Police learned of the incident and approached the student who was forced to get off at Vashi Railway Station and gave him advice from the police personnel.

As the student was in shock, he said, a police team went to her college and her exam dates were postponed.

The victim then went to CSMT Railway Police Station and filed a complaint based on which a case was registered under Section 376 (Rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). said the official.

He added that after analyzing footage from surveillance cameras and working on technical inputs, the accused was tracked down and placed under arrest.

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Ajit Pawar, expressed his anger at the incident and said that the increasing incidence of crimes against women was a cause for concern and put a question mark on the work of the state home ministry.

The former Deputy Prime Minister said that the investigation must be completed quickly and the perpetrator must be punished.

(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)