Mumbai, Aug. 16 : As India was preparing to celebrate 55 years of freedom, a little nameless girl was raped on a local train in full view of fellow passengers. The depravity didn't end there. A drunken Salim Khan pushed the 12-year-old mentally-challenged girl to the littered, metal floor of the last train from Churchgate to Borivili. Five men, perhaps even seven, stood watching, 'too scared to move or protest'' leave alone save the girl screaming for help. One of the witnesses, journalist Ambarish Mishra, however, wrote in carefully chosen detail about the incident in a first hand, first person story the next day - August 15. 'I protested once and asked the man to stop,'' Mishra said. He 'froze with fear'' when Salim threatened to throw out of the train anyone who intervened. Two other men who witnessed the rape of the child at the hands of an inebriated, visibly weak man recounted their shocking tale of horror and fear. 'Fear' that stopped the 'men' from confronting a drunk, doping man as he forced himself on a struggling, screaming street urchin. 'He could have been armed and dangerous,'' said Vasant Kulai. He and Mishra were among the four persons who helped the police arrest Salim once he disembarked at Borivili, after taking his time in raping the girl. There was no saviour for the girl, who couldn't even articulate her misery to the police. Ravi Ingole, another witness, echoed Kulai and Mishra when he said it could have been risky to act as the drunk rapist 'could have done anything''. They didn't try to stop the train as they felt Salim would escape into the darkness, Ingole added. However, the police aren't buying the argument. Inspector Prabhakar Patole of Borivili police station, who recorded the complaint on Wednesday, said even if one person had protested or acted in time, the rape could have been stopped. 'There were five grown-up men who literally stood over the girl and watched the rape,'' he said. 'What I can't understand is how so many people could do absolutely nothing to save the girl. Many things could have been done; the chain could have been pulled, help from passengers in the next compartment could have been sought.'' Two other persons slinked away before they had to depose before the police. Salim, who claimed to have come to Mumbai from Calcutta 15 years ago, has been remanded in custody till August 28. The 24-year-old labourer said he is ready to face the consequences as he 'might have committed a grave sin'. Senior police inspector S.V. Balekar of Borivili station said after arresting Salim around 2.10 am on August 15, it took three hours to locate the victim. 'We found the girl in a dark corner of platform No. 1,'' Balekar said. 'She was crying all by herself, too scared to talk even to the police.'' The girl, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, has been sent to the Dongri Children's Home after being examined at the Nagpada police hospital. The railway was quick to add that the incident was not a fallout of inadequate security. There are around 500 railway police personnel posted in the ladies' compartments of local trains, said a senior official. 'The incident occurred in the general compartment, in front of several passengers,'' he added.