In a shocking incident, a man on a Mumbai local train physically assaulted and molested a woman.
In a video that is being widely shared on social media, a man can be seen repeatedly thrashing the woman and trying to strangle her. Initially, she tries to snatch something away from his hand, following which he throws her on to the train seat, climbs on to it, completely overpowers her, and attempts to strangle and molest her.
The video, which has been edited, then jump cuts to show the man having let go of the woman. She tries to move away from him, but he holds on to her dupatta, and then tries to drag her back even as she moves towards the train door. He then pushes her dangerously close to the trains open entrance and thrashes her against the bars. All this while, there are a few passengers who can be seen in the video, but no one intervenes. A policeman in the adjacent compartment tries to tell the man to stop but cannot do much else because there is a barrier between the two sections.
According to Financial Express, the incident took place on a train between Thane and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in the compartment reserved for the handicapped.
The man, identified as a Rafique Sheikh, reportedly knew the woman and owed her a large sum of money, which led to the altercation, reported the Times of India.
Samir Zaveri, a person in the compartment told Mumbai Mirror that the guard did not pull the emergency alarm.
"I being 90% disabled could not do much to help as there was a threat to my life if I intervened. I asked the security person, who was in the ladies’ compartment which is partially divided with disabled, to pull the emergency alarm but he did not respond,” he said.
Rafique was reportedly arrested by the police at Dadar station, and a case has been filed.