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Patna, Jan. 3: A 35-year-old pregnant woman hailing from Darjeeling jumped off a running train between Ara and Karisath railway stations, around 80km west from here, after an army jawan tried to rape her.
Profusely bleeding, she tried to walk up to the nearby Jagjivan Halt station, around 10km from Ara. But she lost her consciousness on the way. The GRP personnel at the station spotted the woman and rushed her to Ara Sadar hospital with head injuries.
The army jawan, identified as Ramesh Kumar, was taken into custody when the train stopped at Buxar railway station in Danapur-Mughalsarai section of East Central Railway.
The woman, said to be a mother of two children, was on her way to Delhi. Superintendent of rail police (Patna) Suresh Prasad Choudhary said: “The victim is a native of Darjeeling.”
The victim, some passengers said, was sitting in the travelling ticket examiner’s (TTE’s) seat in an AC three-tier coach (B1) of Dibrugarh-Old Delhi Brahmaputra Mail (14055 Up).
Sources said the army man belonging to Jammu and Kashmir Rifles was also travelling in the same coach. He allegedly dragged the victim into a toilet of the coach and attempted to outrage her modesty.
She somehow managed to free herself from his clasp and jumped off the train around 4pm near the home signal of Jagjivan Halt station.
Jagjivan Halt GRP station house officer Rajendra Prasad said the woman walked for about a kilometre towards the station and then lost her consciousness. A GRP team subsequently took her to Ara for treatment.
Additional director-general (rail) Paras Nath Roy said the GRP personnel at Buxar swung into action after a passenger informed a Railway Protection Force (RPF) post about the incident. The accused army man was immediately taken into custody by the Buxar GRP, he said.
Roy told The Telegraph that the army jawan was travelling on berth number 31 of the B1 coach. “Efforts are on to record the statement of the co-passengers of the accused and other army personnel travelling in the coach,” he said, adding that the train was stopped at Mirzapur in UP to record the statement of the passengers.
“We are trying to contact the coach attendant to ascertain whether she was travelling alone,” Roy said. A few passengers told the GRP that she was found travelling on the seat of the TTE.
Prior to the traumatic incident the woman had told the passengers that she was going to Delhi in search of job.
Choudhary, the superintendent of rail police (Patna), rushed to the spot after the incident. He said: “The medical examination of the woman would be conducted under the supervision of a medical board after her condition becomes normal.”
Divisional railway manager of Danapur L.M. Jha also went to Ara Sadar hospital to inquire about the health of the victim.
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