Woman beaten to death in moving train in UP

In a shocking incident, a 50-year old woman was beaten to death in a moving train in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly district, about 250 kilometres from Lucknow, allegedly after she objected to smoking by three youths.

According to the police, the incident occurred early morning on Saturday, a few minutes after the train left Bareilly railway station. The victim, identified as Chita Devi, a resident of Rohtas district in Bihar, was returning home with her two sons from Punjab to celebrate 'Chhath' festival.

Police said that three youths, who were sitting in the upper berth in the general compartment of Jalianwala Bagh Express train from Amritsar to Tatanagar, were smoking and the victim raised an objection.

There was an altercation between them and the youths allegedly hit the woman with their boots repeatedly as a result of which she fainted. Her minor son Ranjit, who accompanied her, said that none of the fellow passengers came to her rescue.

Ranjit said that the culprits banged her mother's head repeatedly with the iron grills of the window and was also hit by boots.

Two alleged culprits managed to escape after committing the crime by pulling the chain when the train neared Shahajahanpur station, about 175 kilometres from Lucknow. One of the three youths was caught by the passengers. He was identified as Sonu Yadav, a resident of UP's Azamgarh district.

The victim was rushed to the district hospital in Shahajahanpur but was declared dead by doctors.

Shahajahanpur GRP inspector Arvind Pandey said that a case was registered.