A shocking incident of an alleged rape attempt and attack on a woman passenger inside a moving train, has surfaced from Kerala’s Ernakulam district. The woman who jumped off from the moving train in a bid to escape the attack, has incurred serious injuries and is under treatment in a private hospital in Kochi.
The incident happened in the Guruvayur-Punalur Express on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, the 31-year-old woman had boarded the train from Mulanthuruthy station in Ernakulam district, to reach her workplace in Alappuzha, reports Times of India.
Railway officials who confirmed the incidents to TNM said that a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery), 307 (Attempt to murder), 376 (Punishment for rape) and 511 (Punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment).
The accused man who is absconding, is identified to be Alappuzha’s Nooranad native Bijukuttan. Railway Protection Force has issued a lookout notice to nab the man. The accused had been earlier also nabbed in snatching gold ornaments from women.
Accused Bijukuttan
As per the report, the compartment which the woman had boarded had been empty. After the train started from the station, the accused man who got inside started to shut the doors of the compartment. Reportedly, as per the Railway Protection Force who probed the case, the man then attacked the woman snatching her gold ornaments, threatening her with a screwdriver.
When he further attacked her, trying to pull her into the toilet, the woman managed to get away from the accused’s grip, opening one of the closed doors of the train. She then jumped off from the train near Piravom. Residents in the region, who saw the woman, managed to take her to hospital.
The woman who incurred injuries to her head, is presently under treatment.
The incident has evoked sharp criticisms from railway passengers raising concerns about the major security lapse. Passengers association Friends on Rails in a statement condemned the incident, urging the Railway to ensure protection of women in trains.
A similar incident in 2011, which led to the rape and murder of a 23-year-old Thrissur native woman in a running train in Kerala, had evoked major protests and security concerns in the railways. In the incident, the woman who was robbed, was raped and pushed off from the moving train by accused Govindachamy.
Read: Lack of awareness, poor implementation: Why PoSH Act fails to protect Kerala women