Pregnant woman pushed off moving train for resisting sexual assault bid in Tamil Nadu

Vellore: A 36-year-old woman, who is four months pregnant, was pushed out of a moving train near Katpadi junction in Vellore district on Thursday after she resisted a sexual assault attempt against her by a 31-year-old man, police said.

Hemanth, a native of Pooncholai village, was arrested for the crime on Friday morning after police identified him with the help of CCTV footage. It is learnt that Hemanth is an accused in at least two cases- murder of a woman and burglary- and got bail recently.

Police said the survivor, who is a native of Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, was travelling to her native place from Tiruppur on the Coimbatore-Tirupati Intercity Express when the incident took place at around 11 am on Thursday.

The woman, who works as a tailor along with her husband in Tirupur, was in the ladies compartment of the train.

“About half-a-dozen women travelled with her in the coach till Jolarpet where they deboarded. That is when the offender entered the coach and faced an objection from the survivor for entering the coach. Hemanth is believed to have said he would get down in the next station,” a source in the Government Railway Police (GRP) said.

However, a few minutes later, according to a statement by the survivor, the offender allegedly stripped himself and tried to sexually assault her despite her resistance. “When the woman screamed for help and tried to stop the train by pulling the chain, Hemanth pushed her out of the train,” the source added.

The woman suffered injuries in her hand, leg, and head and was rescued immediately after fellow passengers informed railway authorities. She was then rushed to the Vellore Government Medical College and Hospital where her condition is said to be stable.

After the incident, the GRP formed two special teams to nab Hemanth, who was arrested from his native Pooncholai village on Friday morning.

The incident on a moving train gave yet another opportunity for opposition parties to take aim at the DMK dispensation on the issue of the “decline” of law and order in Tamil Nadu.

Leader of Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said it was a matter of shame that women in the state can’t walk safely on the road, can’t go to schools, colleges, and their workplaces; and now they can’t even travel by train.

BJP chief K Annamalai also castigated the government for its failure in ensuring law and order in the state while his party colleague Narayanan Tirupathi said as many as 96 cases of harassment against women and children have been reported from across the state since the beginning of the year.

The DMK government is already under attack for its handling of the Anna University sexual assault case in which the Madras High Court intervened and constituted an all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT) for carrying out the investigation.