Bottles, stones thrown at trains leave 2 women commuters with broken face, leg

Bhavana Murpani fell unconscious when glass shards got lodged in her face

A stretch of railway tracks at Kalwa, notorious for passengers being attacked with objects thrown at trains, has seen another incident. A 32-year-old suffered injuries to her face on Thursday after a bottle was hurled at her. On Tuesday, another woman had fractured her leg when a stone was thrown at the train she was on. As per police records, the stretch between Kalwa and Mumbra, close to Parsik tunnel, has recently seen several train commuters hurt in such incidents.

Vidya Koli fractured her leg after a stone was thrown at her. Pic/Shailesh Joshi

The woman, identified as Bhavana Murpani, was travelling home around 8.15 pm from her work place on Thursday, when the incident took place. According to the Government Railway Police (GRP) Thane, the train had just passed Parsik Tunnel, when someone threw a bottle, and the glass pieces lodged in Murpani's face. She was standing near the door and started bleeding and fell unconscious.

A co-passenger whose husband is a police constable, informed him about the incident. He contacted the railway control. At Diva station GRP officials took Murpani to a private hospital for treatment. Murpani said, "I work as an accountant at a Mulund company. I was standing near the door on the way home when someone threw a glass bottle which injured my face. After that I was shifted to a hospital where doctors treated me and I received 22 stitches."

Uttam Sonavane, inspector Thane GRP, said, "We sent officials to the woman's house to record her statement, and then registered an offence against unknown miscreants." Regarding the menace of miscreants targetting commuters this way, Sonavane said, "Five such incidents have taken place near Parsik Tunnel since January this year. We have written several letters to the railways in the past, asking them to raise the height of the wall around the boundaries of the tracks. However, nothing has been done."

In another such case on Tuesday, a Wadala Telephone Exchange employee, Vidya Koli, was on her way home to Dombivali in the evening, when a stone was thrown at the train she was on. Koli, who was standing near the door, fell in the train due to the impact and her right leg began to bleed. Other commuters took her to a hospital where a fracture was detected. An FIR was lodged in the case.

Other cases

>> February 11, 2016: Constable Sudarshan Nalavade and ASI Chandramohan Gaikwad were hit by stones while they were travelling on separate trains on the route.

>> November 2017: Ganesh Lendave, who was working as a security supervisor in a firm in Thane, was injured by a stone on a local train.

5
No. of such incidents near Parsik Tunnel since January this year

2
No. of women injured in past four days on the stretch

Also read: Mumbai: Man survives third train accident in four years!