02 February,2017 12:40 PM IST | | Faisal Tandel
The culprit, who was among a group of men that harassed female commuters on the Kalyan-CST local train, was arrested after a woman lodged a complaint with the GRP
Accused Mehboob Shaikh
Accused Mehboob Shaikh
Travelling in local trains is no less than a nightmare for women. It's not just because of the unruly crowd, but also for those who find a lot of pride in publicly harassing them.
After being sexually harassed by a group of men on the Kalyan-CST local for the past six months, a 37-year-old woman Rekha Singh (name changed) gathered courage and registered a complaint with the Government Railway Police (GRP) against the miscreants on January 24. What followed was the arrest of one of the accused Mehboob Shaikh, a resident of Bhiwandi.
Unruly behaviour
Speaking to mid-day, Singh said, "I used to board the train daily from the Kalyan station at 8:47am. The accused used to stare at the women from between the steel rods and sing vulgar songs at the top of their voice. They even used to thump the seats and doors."
Not being able to bear the nuisance created by the miscreants, on January 23 the women in the compartment started shouting. Some of them even called up the GRP and RPF but the compartment was so crowded that the cops could not enter.
"They were more than five in number. While three of them used to board the train from Kalyan, the others used to get in at Mumbra. From Mumbra till Dadar they used to harass women," she added. When contacted, Manik Sathe, PI, GRP Kalyan said, "A case has been registered under section 354 A (IV) (outraging modesty) and 34 (common intention) of IPC.
