Mumbai: A Western Railway ticket-checker publicly assaulted a man who was travelling in a group that comprised two women – one of them elderly – and at least three children at Bandra railway station on Thursday afternoon.
The assault was witnessed by this reporter who was travelling in the Borivali-Churchgate fast local train. The train leaves Borivali at 3.36 pm and arrives at Churchgate at 4.29 pm. Several members of the public also saw the ticket-checker abusing and humiliating the man on Platform 5 of Bandra station.
The group was sitting on the floor of the first-class compartment when the FPJ staffer boarded the train at Jogeshwari a couple of minutes past the 3.53 pm arrival time. The group apparently was a family – a man, his wife, his elderly mother and three children. They were apparently illiterate and did not realise that they had got into a first class compartment without the tickets for it.
The group got down at Bandra station and was promptly stopped by ticket-checkers. One of the ticket-checkers proceeded to yank the man hard by his ear and abuse him. The elderly woman tried to intervene and could be seen begging the railway official to let him go – only to be shouted down. The younger woman and the children were huddled together and were also seen trying to reason with the ticket-checker.
The train started moving before the FPJ staffer could intervene or take a photo. However, the identity of the railway official can be established by checking the CCTV.
The FPJ would urge railway officials to look into the matter and take action against the ticket-checker. If the group did not have valid tickets or were in the wrong compartment they should have been fined or detained. However, the man was assaulted and the women had to suffer verbal abuse in front of the children and in full view of the public.
