In a shocking incident, a 35-year-old woman was pushed from a running local train in Mumbai suburbs raising the issue of safety of working women in public transports.
The mother of three children, Vidya Patil, was a resident of Chinchodyacha Pada at Dombivali in the neighbouring Thane district.
Vidya is survived by her husband Dnyaneshwar Patil (40), who is an electrical contractor, three daughters – Purva (9), Megha (6) and Pari, who is only six months old, besides an aged mother-in-law Indubai Patil.
She had just started going back to work after maternity leave.
The incident happened on Saturday evening around 7.45 pm near the Kalwa station on the Central Railway when Vidya was returning home from her office in Andheri.
Vidya had boarded the train at around 7 pm from the Kurla station and was heading for Dombivli.
After the train started off the platform at Kalwa, a mobile thief, later identified as Faisal Shaikh entered the train and tried to snatch off her mobile and jump out of the local.
However, the woman got hold of him and resisted – but he pushed her following which she fell at the edge of the platform and ran over by the train.
The incident was over in a few seconds.
The other women on the train raised an alarm and pulled the emergency chain.
The GRP, closely watched the CCTV footage of the platform, identified the accused and formed teams to track him down.
Faisal Shaikh, a history-sheeter, was later arrested from Mumbra area, police sources said.
The GRP have lodged offences of theft, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other sections of the Indian Railways Act against the arrested-accused and probing further.
“Moreover, when the trains are allowed for only people in essential services, how did the thief manage to gain entry to the station premises and escape,” asked Kamlakar Patil, the victim’s brother-in-law.
The Maharashtra BJP unit has demanded a detailed probe into the incident.
“It is compulsory for GRP/RPF personnel to travel in ladies compartments post 6 pm. Whether the GRP/RPF personnel present... there needs to be an investigation,” said state BJP women’s wing vice president Chitra Wagh.