Mother, daughter jump off train after rape attempt
A 40-year-old woman and her 15-year-old daughter jumped off a running train after a group of miscreants attempted to rape the girl on board Howrah-Jodhpur Express late on Saturday night.
The duo, who were travelling from Kolkata to Delhi in an unreserved coach, were forced to jump off when the miscreants tried to drag the girl into a toilet. The incident happened when the train was between Chandari and Kanpur railway stations.
The two fainted after jumping off the train. They remained unconscious for nearly two hours. After regaining consciousness, the badly injured mother and daughter walked to the Chandari station where people called an ambulance and rushed them to Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital.
The Government Railway Police (GRP) came to know about the incident late on Sunday noon.
“We are in the process of registering an FIR,” said Ram Mohan Rai, SHO, GRP Kanpur.
The woman’s husband works in a private firm in Delhi and the daughter is a Class 9 student in Kolkata. The woman told police that the group of 10-15 miscreants started teasing her daughter soon after the train left Howrah.
They also tried to grope the girl, following which the mother rushed to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) constables escorting the train when it stopped at two stations. She claimed she complained twice about the harassment, first when the train was near Allahabad, and again at Allahabad. “The constables accompanied me to the compartment and nabbed three of them. They even slapped them and took them away,” she told HT. “However, the miscreants came back within 30 minutes, perhaps after bribing the cops,” she alleged.
To her horror, they got more aggressive after the train left Allahabad and threatened them that they would drug the girl and sell her. Around 10pm, four to five boys pounced on the girl when she was going to the toilet.
Hearing her scream, the mother fought with them before finally jumping off the train with her daughter. “In the struggle, my daughter’s clothes were torn. We had to jump off as we had no choice,” she said.
Police said her husband has been informed and was on his way to Kanpur. The woman said they would submit a formal complaint only after his arrival.
Despite the woman’s allegations that RPF constables took bribes to let off the offenders, the North Central Railway, which runs the Howrah-Jodhpur Express, distanced itself from the incident. “The incident took place near Howrah, which is not under our jurisdiction. When she reported the matter at Rasoolabad near Chandari station, the RPF constables provided her all the assistance and got them admitted to hospital,” said Gaurav Bansal, North Central Railway’s chief PRO.
THE WOMAN TOLD POLICE THAT THE GROUP OF 1015 MISCREANTS STARTED TEASING HER TEENAGED DAUGHTER SOON AFTER THE TRAIN LEFT HOWRAH