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Why me? Shishir Barve's colleague rushed him to a hospital in Chembur. Barve needed five stitches Pic/Atul Kamble |
Shishir Barve was on his way home to Vashi in a Panvel-bound train when he was assaulted by an unidentified youth at Kurla.
Said Barve, "My colleague and I boarded the 11.15 pm train from CST. As we passed Chunabhatti, one of the passengers asked a boy standing near the door to switch on a fan. After he switched on the fan, the boy suddenly hit my head with something.
Everything happened in a matter of seconds. Before we could register that I was bleeding, the boy got off at Kurla and ran away."
Said Harvinder Saigal, Barve's colleague, "I was setting on the opposite side and saw that the attacker was a young boy. He was annoyed when one of the passengers asked him to switch on the fan."
"But we still can't figure out why he hit Barve or what weapon he used."
The incident has left Barve and his colleagues convinced that Mumbai's trains are no longer safe, especially because this isn't the first time that one of their colleagues has been attacked.
"A couple of months ago, one of our colleague's trousers were torn by pickpockets. As we have heard of a number of such incidents, we have been travelling in groups. The local trains are no longer safe," added Barve.
The group has also lost faith in the railway administration.
Saigal alleged that there was no response when they tried to call the control room. "As it was a head injury, we just informed the police at Kurla station and rushed to a hospital. The police didn't even offer to help us. We will register a case in the morning," he added.
Barve needed five stitches on his head.
In the past
> May 9, 2008: Six men armed with choppers, knives and knuckles attacked Sandesh Salunke and his brother-in-law Ketan Vichare after they caught a mobile thief red handed and were about to hand him over to the police.
> June 10, 2008: Priyanka Choudhary was robbed between Marine Lines and Churchgate. The two robbers jumped off the compartment and escaped when the train slowed while entering Churchgate.
> July, 2008: Kamaldev Singh, an ex-army man, was arrested for threatening a commuter at Nallasopara station and assaulting him because he was not allowed to enter a boogie.
> March 2008: R Pillai was allegedly assaulted in a train at Dombivli, by unknown people, when he boarded the luggage compartment of CST-bound train at Kalyan.
