A 19-year-old college girl from Vile Parle was allegedly abused and threatened by a BEST bus conductor because she was wearing earphones and couldn’t hear him.

On December 10, 2012, arou-nd 7.45am, Gazala Shaikh, an SYBCom student of Vivek College, Goregaon (West), boarded BEST bus route number 201 from near her residence. “I had my earphones on and was listening to music. As the bus approached Oshiwara, someone pushed me from behind. When I checked, I saw it was the conductor asking for a ticket,” she said.

According to Shaikh, the conductor started to abuse her for not responding to his call. When she argued, he allegedly tried to hit her.

The next day, Shaikh went to the Oshiwara police, which filed a non-cognisable complaint.

However, it was only after HT pursued the matter that the investigation started. “We will summon the bus conductor to record his statement and a lady officer will record the victim’s statement,” said senior inspector Dilip Rupwate.