Visually-challenged teen pins down man who molested her on Mumbai local train

A 15-year-old visually-challenged girl got a man, who molested her on a Mumbai local train, arrested. But, this was no plain arrest. The child, trained in self-defence and karate, caught her molester’s hand, and twisted it till he was forced down to his knees in pain.

The Dadar GRP, which arrested the man, said the girl was on her way home with her father on Monday. They took the at 8.15pm fast train to Kalyan from Dadar. The girl and her 56-year-old father boarded the compartment reserved for differently-abled people. The accused, 24-year-old Vishal Baliram Singh, also boarded the compartment. He stood right behind the girl and began touching her, said Prasad Pandhare, senior police inspector, Dadar GRP. The girl did not panic.

Instead, she turned around and twisted Singh’s hand so hard, he screamed. This got the attention of other passengers .

The girl confronted him and told her father he was touching her. “Until the train reached the next station, Matunga, the girl held Singh — much taller than she is — in a tight grip,” said Pandhare.

The officer said her technique was so perfect, Singh’s fingers would have broken if she had not eased her grip soon enough. “She did not seem scared at all, and boldly told us to arrest Singh,” Pandhare said.

When the train reached Matunga station, the girl’s father called GRP officers patrolling the platform and handed Singh over. Dadar GRP officers arrested Singh for molestation, travelling in the handicap compartment illegally and for travelling without a ticket.

Singh, a computer maintenance technician for a private firm, and a resident of Mulund, has been remanded in police custody for two days.

“We are always easy targets for creeps like Singh,” the girl said. “Our school teaches us self-defence and karate as part of our curriculum, so we can face the world despite our disability. I want the man to suffer, to ensure he does not repeat the act with any other ‘easy target’,” she said.

First Published: Dec 19, 2018 00:50 IST