After the opposition parties in Maharashtra slammed the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP government over the alleged sexual assault of a 20-year-old student on board a running train in Mumbai, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) has now sought a report from the police in the matter.
Mumbaikars lakhs of whom commute daily by suburban trains – were stunned after a porter allegedly raped the student going to appear for her exam on a moving train soon after it departed from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) on Wednesday morning.
“The accused, identified as Nawaz Karim Shaikh (40), was nabbed within eight hours of the incident. He has been charged with rape. Shaikh was produced before a court which remanded him to six-day police custody,” Government Railway Police (GRP) DCP Manoj Patil told IANS.
Taking strong umbrage, MSCW Chairperson Rupali Chakankar has directed the CSMT police station to probe the incident and submit a report to the women’s panel.
“Lakhs of women commute by local trains daily and there is a need to ensure their safety. Women’s safety is of utmost importance and the concerned department has been instructed to take immediate measure in this regard,” said Chakankar.
Taking strong note of the incident, Maharashtra Mahila Congress President Sandhya Savvalakhe said, “Are the state government, home department and the police even alive in Maharashtra?”
“This shameful incident comes barely a week after the rape-cum-murder of a student (in the Savitridevi Phule Women’s Hostel). It shows the growing trend of violence against women in Mumbai,” Savvalakhe said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Working President Supriya Sule termed the incident as “outrageous”, and said that “it is very disturbing that a person got into a women’s compartment and raped a young woman”.
“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 strictest punishment for the accused.
Condemning the incident, leader of opposition Ajit Pawar questioned the efficiency of the home department headed by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis “in view of the alarming increase in crimes and violence against women in the past few days”.
“Why was there no police security in the women’s compartment when this crime took place? Who is responsible for it? The government should investigate the serious lapses in the security system on a war-footing,” Pawar said.
Savvalakhe alleged that while the country’s Prime Minister keeps showing the green flag to new trains, the infighting between the Shiv Sena and the BJP in the state leaves them with no time to govern and ensure law and order, and demanded that “they must wake up now”.
On Wednesday morning, the student was on the way to appear for her exams at Belapur in Navi Mumbai and had boarded the ladies’ second-class compartment of the CSMT-Panvel local train. At that hour, there was just one senior woman in the coach.
When the train started moving out of the platform, a man suddenly jumped inside, caught the girl and started sexually assaulting her even as she attempted to fight him off.
DCP Patil said that she also raised a hue and cry, scaring the assailant who jumped off as the train approached Masjid station after which she went to another compartment.
Following a police complaint lodged later in the afternoon, four teams of Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police along with Mumbai Police managed to track and nab the accused porter, Shaikh, hailing from Kishanganj district in Bihar.
Acting promptly on the helpline call, a police team escorted the student-victim to her examination centre in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai, but after learning of her tragic ordeal, the examiner offered to conduct her exam some other day.
The girl was again taken to CSMT where she lodged a formal complaint, even as the police teams spotted Shaikh near the Masjid station using CCTV footage and human surveillance, nabbed him and handed him over to the GRP.
20230615-185601
