A 25-year-old woman commuter was attacked and robbed on a Churchgate-bound local train by an uindentifed man between Mira Road and Dahisar railway stations early Thursday. The railway police constable who was supposed to escort the train from Bhayander station failed to board the train at the assigned station, sources said. The victim, Apurva Chakravarty, a resident of Bhayander (East), was heading to work at the time of the incident. She works with a private firm. According to the Vasai Government Railway Police (GRP), the victim was the only passenger in the middle second class compartment reserved for women when she boarded the slow train starting from Bhayander station at 4.50am. At Mira Road, a man attacked her with a stick and hit her repeatedly on the head. He then robbed her of her gold chain, bangles and silver anklet. As soon as the train slowed down before reaching Dahisar station, he fled. The victim suffered serious injuries on the forehead and had bruises on her face, said police. As per night duty escort norms, GRP constable S G Shaikh was supposed to board the same compartment at Bhayandar. However, he missed the train and boarded it at Dahisar, said Vasai GRP. Night escorting duty begins at 9 pm and ends at 6am. Shaikh was on night escorting duty on Wednesday. As per the duty schedule, after a rest during non-train working hours from 1am onwards, he was supposed to escort the slow morning service starting from Bhayander at 4.50 am. Senior inspector Pandurang S Bhangre said Shaikh boarded the compartment in which the incident took place at Dahisar instead of Bhayander. “Appropriate action will be taken against him,” said Bhangre. The woman was taken to Shatabdi hospital in Borivali. She was later discharged after treatment. The Railway police at Borivali registered her complaint before transferring the case to Vasai GRP. “The attacker is aged between 30 and 35 years. A probe is on,” Bhangre added. In a similar case last year, a nurse was molested by a drunk man in an empty compartment on July 27 in a local train on WR. The constable on duty had reportedly missed the train in which the attack took place. priyal.dave@expressindia.com
