Thousands of passengers were stranded at Howrah station till late on Tuesday following a blockade triggered by the death of a youth allegedly pushed by women, including a lady cop, from a ladies' local in the evening.
The blockade on its part took a toll as a stranded passenger in his 50s slumped on platform 1 at Howrah and died.
The protesters who blocked the tracks at Hind Motor and Uttarpara stations in Hooghly district were demanding the arrest of the women who had thrown Deepak Sharma, 35, from a compartment of a Howrah-Bandel Matribhumi local.
Travelling on a train reserved for women is an offence and draws a fine of Rs 1,000.
Witnesses said Sharma, a resident of Rishra, had boarded the train at Bally station, 15 minutes after it had left Howrah around 7.55pm. "The women in the compartment immediately asked him to get off but he ignored them," said a passenger who refused to be named.
"It was then that a group of passengers, along with a woman constable on duty in the compartment, tried to push the man out. The man resisted for some time but fell off the coach shortly after the train had left Uttarpara station."
The youth, according to other witnesses, rammed against a lamp post and fell on the ground. Police removed the body an hour later.
When the train pulled in at Hind Motor station, some of the passengers in the coach allegedly dragged out the constable and the group that pushed Sharma and beat them up. Other passengers on the platform joined in the assault.
When GRP and RPF officers tried to save the constable, they came under attack, too.
Irate passengers then blocked the tracks. The blockade was removed around 9.20pm after the police lathicharged the protesters.
The injured constable was taken to Uttarpara State General Hospital, where her situation was stated to be critical.
Soon after the blockade was lifted, passengers at Uttarpara station squatted on the tracks. The second blockade was lifted around 11.30pm.
Railway officials admitted that a man had been thrown off the Howrah-Bandel Matribhumi local but refused to say whether the woman constable was involved in it. "We have started an inquiry and are trying to find out who had thrown out the man - the constable or passengers," an Eastern Railway spokesperson said.
While the protests were on, platforms 1 to 6 of Howrah station resembled a sea of heads.
Bhadreswar resident Jung Bahadur Yadav, a milkman by profession, slumped while waiting for the service to resume. Other passengers alerted the police, who took Yadav to Howrah District Hospital. He was declared dead on arrival.
Some passengers alleged that Yadav had been lying on the platform for 20 minutes before he was taken to hospital.
"I have been waiting for a train since 8.30pm. There are no buses on the road and a taxi has charged me Rs 1,500 for a trip till Rishra, only 25km away," said Prabir Sanyal, a resident of Rishra.
Even after the services resumed, trains ran packed and men and women were found hanging from the doors.
The railways ran extra trains till well past midnight to clear the rush.
In August, men and women had fought and blocked tracks on at least five occasions after the railways had decided to turn three coaches of every Matribhumi local into general compartments.
The railways had to withdraw the decision within two weeks in the face of the protests.
