Alert policewoman catches juvenile phone thief from women’s coach at Kurla

Jyotsna Dalvi spotted the child at Dadar and found him suspicious and hence kept a watch on him after he boarded a crowded coach with her around 8pm

An alert railway police constable, returning home after work, apprehended a juvenile mobile phone thief from the women’s coach at Kurla station on Wednesday night. Constable Jyotsna Dalvi, 35, told Hindustan Times that she spotted the child at Dadar and found him suspicious and hence kept a watch on him after he boarded the crowded coach with her around 8pm.

“The boy looked very suspicious because he kept staring at commuters’ handbags. Inside the coach, I saw him putting his hand into a shoulder bag to steal a mobile phone, between Dadar and Kurla,” Jyotsna Dalvi told HT.

The policewoman has previously served for three years in the all women’s squad made to curb crime against women.

“He alighted from another door at Kurla station. I followed him and caught him as soon as he sprinted towards the foot overbridge. I brought him back to the coach and asked all the commuters to check if their phones were with them,” Dalvi said.

A woman commuter Varsha Tawde responded saying the stolen phone was hers. The police said the boy was caught while the train had halted for a minute at the station and the emergency chain did not have to be used.

The boy, a Sion resident, was taken to his house to verify his identity and was later handed over to the children’s home after registering a case against him. While the Kurla government railway police (GRP) has no previous case against him, they are verifying with other police stations.