Girl leaps before Metro train

A 20-year-old Delhi University student allegedly jumped in front of a moving train at Race Course Metro station of Yellow Line on Tuesday. The girl was identified with the help of her college library card, police said.

Murtaza lived with her family in west Delhi’s Najafgarh, and was a third-year Bachelor of Arts student of Kalindi College in central Delhi’s Patel Nagar.

Police said an initial investigation revealed that a train was about to halt on Huda City Centre-Jahangirpuri route when she jumped off platform number 2 around 3.45 pm.

“The driver applied emergency brakes, but failed to avert the incident. Her body was severed, and she died on the spot. The body has been sent for a post-mortem at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,” said Sanjay Bhatia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways).

The reason behind Murtaza’s extreme step is yet to be ascertained as no suicide note was recovered from her possession. “We informed her father and he is being questioned to ascertain the reason,” Bhatia added.

Police have also analysed CCTV footage of the station and confirmed that it was a suicide attempt.

Witnesses told police that they saw Murtaza standing quiet in a corner close to the edge of the platform.

A Delhi Metro spokesperson confirmed that there was a minor delay reported in the running of trains on the route after the incident. Normal service was resumed within 15 minutes.

To tackle the issue of increasing suicide attempts at stations, Delhi Metro has already decided to install platform screen doors in the elevated stations in Phase III.