CR to prosecute women commuters for locking door of Karjat-CSMT train

Central Railways takes cognisance of Tuesday’s incident in which women commuters prevented Badlapur commuters from boarding the fast train in peak hour

Thane

CR to prosecute women commuters for locking door of Karjat-CSMT train

The Central Railway on Tuesday took serious cognizance of an incident at Badlapur station where a group of first-class women commuters in a Karjat-CSMT train prevented other commuters from boarding the train by locking the door of the compartment and decided to lodge a case against the group.

The incident took place in the first-class compartment at Badlapur during the morning peak hour at 7.51 am. As soon as the train from Karjat and reached platform no 3, the Badlapur women commuters found the doors of the ladies first class compartment towards the CSMT end locked. Due to this, many women attempting to board the train fell down on the platform and no one could board the train.

The train started and the women inside the compartment clapped their hands. The commuters from the adjoining men’s first-class compartment saw this and pulled the chain stating that they will not allow the train to proceed unless Badlapur women commuters were allowed to board the train. When the train stopped again, they opened the doors and then some women managed to board the train.

The train from Karjat halts at all stations till Kalyan and turns into a fast train from the rest of the distance to CSMT, stopping only at key stations like Thane, Ghatkopar, Dadar, and Byculla.

Shweta Gaykar, an accountant who travels daily on this train from Badlapur to Thane, said the commuters from Vangani and Shelu, who board the train after it commences journey from Karjat were responsible for the incident. “Is this bullying right? We live in Badlapur and many trains are available in the morning. The intention of women commuters from Vangani and Shelu was that Badlapur women shouldn’t board this train and overcrowd it. We will not tolerate such behaviour. We will protest if such time comes.”

This is not the first time that such aggression has been seen among women commuters from Badlapur and Vangani. Two weeks ago, some women who boarded a Badlapur local train at around 8 am found that some Vangani women were already seated inside and had boarded the train from the carshed. The Badlapur women beat up the women commuters from Vangani and threw them out of the compartment. The commuters also refused to listen to the railway police personnel, who were trying to resolve the matter, and pushed them away. The Government Railway Police had also taken cognisance of the incident. GRP sources said the women from the three stations have been complaining against each other frequently.

The Central Railway Public Relations Officer, Dr Shivraj Manaspure said, “Our team has been investigating the matter and is in the process of lodging a case in the matter. We will also make arrests once the investigation is done. No one can deprive any commuters from getting into public transportation.”