Mumbai: Woman lawyer tweets ordeal with railway police while filing molestation complaint, DCP to inquire

The woman tweeted: “I was sexually assaulted today on my way to work in the local train. While I will be pursuing requisite action against the people I mention in this thread. my sole purpose of writing this is a humble request to the @mumbaipolice to sensitise your force and make them aware and accountable for their own duties especially for such sensitive incidents,” [sic] she tweeted.

The woman said that upon reaching the Andheri railway police station, she was visibly distressed and started crying. “As I spoke to the police in charge and told them I was molested and I’d be comfortable speaking about it to a female cop, the first question he asked me was “Molestation kya hota hai (What is molestation?)”. After explaining to the police woman about the details of my complaint, her first question to me was if my boyfriend did that to me. How does it matter?…” [sic] she tweeted.

She further said that while she identified the perpetrator on the CCTV footage at around 11:30 am, one of the policewomen asked her why she had not hit him in retaliation. She also said that she had to insist that she was not comfortable narrating her “horrendous” experience in the middle of the entire police station and only then the police took her statement in a separate room.

“After a delay of 3 hours for reasons best known to the cops (I entered at 11am, identified the perpetrator at 11:30 and my statement was taken at 2), me narrating my horrible experience 3-4 times, describing and identifying the man who assaulted me, hearing how I should have hit him and tackled this better, and that I should be thankful I was in my “covered” formal attire, being told to give my statement in the middle of the police station when a separate room was clearly available, being told that since he wasn’t my bf or someone I knew I was a “nice girl” and I didn’t do anything wrong to be upset, I finally got a copy of my statement,” [sic] she tweeted.

She said that the police then told her that the platform where she was assaulted was actually under the Borivali railway police jurisdiction and that the entire information would be forwarded to them. “To my shock, I received a call from the borivali police station this evening calling me once again to identify the perpetrator on cctv footage,” [sic] she tweeted.

After the woman took to social media, the GRP responded to her ordeal and said she need not come to the Borivali police station to identify the perpetrator and they would coordinate with the Andheri GRP.

A senior police officer from the Mumbai GRP said, “Three teams have been formed to nab the molester. Sandeep Bhajibhakare, DCP, GRP, will be looking into her complaint on the behaviour of the cops.”