Mumbai, Sept. 11: She slapped him hard.

But Sangeeta More wasn’t done yet.

Again and again her hand shot out at the man arrested for trying to molest her and throw her off a train. Three constables watched stunned as Sangeeta (name changed) kept slapping Devraj Kanap.

When she finally stopped, her anger exhausted, three minutes had passed.

News channels today aired the video clip, shot on a mobile, that captured the 23-year-old’s rage after she came face to face with her attacker at a police station last week.

Kanap was arrested on July 27 after alert commuters caught him at Lower Parel station trying to flee. Sangeeta, a qualified nurse, was on her way to an early morning shift when the 28-year-old tried to assault her.

“No one is supposed to take the law in their hands. But it was a spontaneous reaction,” said Rajendra Trivedi, senior inspector, Mumbai Central Railway police station.

Sangeeta had boarded the second-class ladies’ compartment at Mumbai Central station at 5.41am, her usual time. At that early hour, she was the only one in the compartment of the Borivli-bound train.

Seeing she was alone, a man, later identified as Kanap, entered the compartment and tried to misbehave with Sangeeta. He first passed vulgar comments and then pulled her towards him. When she tried to push him off, Kanap allegedly bit her and tried to push her off the train.

As she fought him, Sangeeta realised that the train was entering the next station, Lower Parel, and started screaming for help. Kanap then tried to jump off the train but passengers, alerted by Sangeeta’s cries, caught him and handed him over to the railway police.

Kanap, a mason by profession, was later booked for attempt to murder, outraging the modesty of a woman and assault.

It is mandatory for armed police escorts to travel in ladies’ first and second-class compartments round the clock. But the constable assigned the duty that morning had left before his shift ended. He has been suspended.

Sangeeta no longer travels by the 5.41am train. Her routine has changed since the early-morning incident. The slaps brought out the anger of women like her — working women who live under constant fear of lurking predators.