Bhubaneswar, Sept. 11: Two youths were detained by the Bhubaneswar Government Railway Police (GRP) for allegedly molesting a 25-year-old girl on Guwahati-Chennai Express last night.
The accused were identified as Abdul Salim and Hitash Barman from Guwahati. The police said after getting a complaint from the girl’s brother they nabbed the youths as the train reached Bhubaneswar railway station past midnight.
The girl, a research scholar, had gone to Calcutta to attend an interview. She was returning to Bhubaneswar yesterday. She boarded the train from Howrah station.
The police said that as her ticket was not confirmed, she came standing in the train. She alleged that after Kharagpur, these two youths started passing filthy remarks at her and tried to molest her.
“The girl was scared as the youths were drunk. She could not resist and they kept on harassing her,” said a police officer. Before the train reached Bhubaneswar, the girl informed her brother over phone. Her brother, in turn, informed the GRP officials.
The police raided the train after it halted at Bhubaneswar station. Seeing the cops, the youths started to run. Other passengers on the train handed them over to the police.
The railway police said they found the allegation to be true. They booked the youths under sections 509 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code.
“Investigation is on. We will forward them to the court tomorrow,” said railway superintendent of police Bhagyadhar Behera.
Incidents of molestation on trains are not new. A police inspector from Balasore was arrested on July 2 for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old girl on a train near Bhubaneswar. The girl was on her way to Puri for rath yatra.
The man in khaki committed the crime under the influence of alcohol. He is lodged in Jharapada jail.
Last year, a businessman was arrested by the GRP for molesting a lady doctor on Hirakhand Express. On August 27, another doctor was allegedly molested by her co-passenger, a government employee, on Malda-bound Gour express. Earlier, an Army havildar was arrested at Howrah station on July 15 on charges of molesting a co-passenger.
