Two city journalists — a female PTI staffer and NDTV India reporter Dharmendra Tiwari — were threatened, abused and assaulted by two railway officials inside a Titwala-bound local train on Saturday night, says an Indian Express report. The incident occurred when the reporters were returning home to Ghatkopar from Sion at 10.45 pm.
According to a complaint filed by the reporters with the Kurla railway police, the two men entered the train in an allegedly inebriated state at Kurla and began misbehaving with the woman reporter. It was later found that the accused were railway officials — one an assistant station master of Trombay yard, Shashikant Patil, and the other his junior Ravi Thakur. Both have been suspended by Central Railway.
Tiwari said, “We were standing at the footboard of the compartment when Patil and Thakur entered the train and stood next to my friend.†Patil allegedly attempted to lean on the woman reporter thrice on the pretext of talking on his phone, following which she alerted Tiwari. Later, Patil began hurling abuses on the phone and at the journalists, they alleged.
“We however decided to endure it till we reached Ghatkopar station to avoid a fight in the running train,†they said. At Ghatkopar when the train halted, the journalists forced the two men to alight with the help of a co-passenger. “When we tried to take them to the police station, they tried to assault me. My shirt was torn and I lost my gold chain in the scuffle,†Tiwari said.
A case of molestation, assault and outraging the modesty of a woman has been registered against Patil and Thakur by the Kurla Railway Police. According to a Central Railway senior public relations official, “The two accused have been suspended for the alleged misbehaviour and assault on passengers. An internal inquiry had also been ordered into the incident.â€
On Sunday, Patil and Thakur were produced before the Bhoiwada Metropolitan Magistrate’s court and granted bail after paying a fine of Rs 7,000 each.
