Mumbai: RPF official's apathy helps train goon flee at Malad station

Victim Avdhesh Kumar

They just never learn, do they? Another instance of police apathy has allowed a train goon to escape after assaulting a fellow passenger last morning. The attack comes a day after a senior TV journalist was beaten up on a train by raging goons. In Thursday's case, Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Malad station shunted the victim away, asking him to approach the Government Railway Police (GRP) instead, giving the accused time to flee from the spot.

Morning mayhem
Yesterday, Avdhesh Kumar, 23, a Nalasopara resident, boarded the 10.16 am Churchgate train from Borivli, headed to Jogeshwari. When the train was about to depart, another man pushed his way into the packed compartment, jostling with Kumar who was standing near the compartment door.

Getting angry over the lack of space to stand properly, he allegedly started abusing Kumar as well as other commuters for "standing in his way". Within minutes, he started beating Kumar. Fellow commuters tried to break them apart, but by the time they managed, Kumar had sustained injuries and was bleeding. Rajesh Yadav, a researcher with Crime Patrol who was in the compartment, said, "Angry commuters wanted to take the accused to Kandivli RPF, but he refused to get down, boasting that he travels by this train daily and has contacts in RPF. The accused wanted to get off at Malad; so, we told Kumar to get down with him and take him to the cops there."

Yadav, who helped the victim to take the accused to the RPF at Malad, said the officer there shooed them away, telling them to approach the GRP. "I was getting late; so, I deposited Kumar and the accused outside the GRP office on platform no.1 and left. But I couldn't rest and needed to know if Kumar was fine… so I went back in but saw that he was standing outside the GRP office alone. He told me the accused had managed to flee," added Yadav.

'Sheer negligence'
Yadav then took Kumar to the RPF office and met ASI and RPF Association President (Western Railway) B P Sharma and requested him to file a complaint. On Yadav's insistence, RPF coordinated with GRP and offered first aid to Kumar. Kumar said, "The man threatened me to make space for him, but the compartment was so packed that I couldn't. He got angry and started beating me up. His ring injured my face and the cut started bleeding."

Speaking on the incident, Yadav slammed the "sheer negligence of the RPF". "They could have accompanied the victim and the accused to the GRP office and nabbed the accused, but they didn't. They didn't even offer medical aid to the victim," he alleged.

Also read: Mumbai: Senior TV journalist attacked by passengers inside local train

Sharma told mid-day that a case had been registered with GRP Malad under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code, adding that they checked CCTV footage but couldn't find the accused on it. "We have requested the victim to meet us at Borivli station on Friday morning to identify the accused," said Sharma.

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates