Man held for groping woman commuter

A man was arrested by Government Railway Police for groping a woman commuter at Kalyan railway station. The incident took place on the foot over bridge.

KALYAN: A 30-year-old man was arrested by Government Railway Police for groping a woman commuter at the busy foot over bridge (FOB) of Kalyan railway station in the early hours of Monday.

Man held for groping woman commuter

The incident took place around 6.45 am when the woman passenger, who was on her way to board a local train after reaching the FOB at the Kasara end of the station, screamed in panic and the fellow commuters on the bridge caught hold of the man on the spot and thrashed him. Following the incident, a women passengers association from Thane approached the railway police and demanded action against the man. The GRP said the women commuters, however, did not come forward to lodge a complaint.

The man, who had escaped from the clutches of the commuters, was traced against by the Kalyan GRP with the help of CCTV and arrested. The police identified him as Santosh Kumar Sharma, an unemployed, alcoholic man who is seen wandering around Kalyan station regularly.

“Many such incidents takes place at railway station, and this is because there are no proper measures undertaken for the safety of women commuters. The bridge is so narrow and mostly crowded. People wait on the bridge for the announcement of their trains and is packed with morning peak hour commuters. Drunkards and drug addicts roaming around is very common at Kalyan station and the police need to put a stop to this,” said Lata Argade, President, Tejaswini Women Railway Passengers Association, Thane.

“I received a call from a commuter on Monday morning about the incident. I spoke to the railway police asking them to take immediate action. It is high time, we improve safety measures for commuters. Drunkards and drug addicts should be completely prohibited from entering the station,” said Argade.

A commuter who also travels to Mumbai for work, Sugandha Naik, ,30, said ,”These drug addicts or drunkard simply sleep on the bridge, they smoke, they eat and drink. They stare at women commuters, sometimes follow them also. Its completely an awkward situation here in Kalyan station where you cannot even walk alone during late nights as the bridges and skywalks have no security guards.”

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MNS ultimatum

The MNS workers also staged a protest at Kalyan station premises by evicting the hawkers and others in the evening. The MNS members also gave bangles to the station master of Kalyan railway station, mocking the administration for not taking any step for the safety of commuters. They shouted slogans and blamed the negligence of the railways for the incident.

The party workers demanded suspension of the officials who were supposed to look after the security at station premises during morning hours and asked for measures to ensure safety of commuters. “We have given a 15-day ultimatum to the railway administration to ensure the station premises are free of drug addicts, drunkards and hawkers. If there is no change found, we will do the job in our style. The station administration didn’t even know about the incident which is such a shame,” said Ulhas Bhoir, president, MNS , Kalyan.