There were no police personnel present in the ladies compartment when a woman was sexually assaulted in a moving local train in Mumbai last month, Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis informed the state assembly on Thursday.
“Local patrolling is operational in ladies compartment between 9 pm to 6 am. At other times, police are deployed at the railway platforms,” Fadnavis said in a written reply to a query by Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik.
“As the incident happened between 7.30 and 8.30 am, no action has been initiated against any police personnel,” Fadnavis said.
The incident happened on June 14 and the accused was arrested the same day, Fadnavis said. The process to file a chargesheet against him is on, the minister said.
A labourer was arrested for sexually assaulting the woman. The arrest was made eight hours after the assault which happened between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and Masjid Bunder stations.
When the woman raised an alarm as the Masjid Bunder station approached, the man got off the train and fled.
The Government Railway Police said the 20-year-old woman stays in Girgaum and was on her way to appear for an examination at Belapur.
She boarded the ladies’ compartment of the train which was empty. As the train began moving, the man boarded the train and seeing the woman alone, he approached and sexually assaulted her, police said.
-With PTI Input
