17 July,2026 07:40 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Illustrations/Uday Mohite
A pepper spray attack inside a ladies' coach, panic at a suburban station, a violent fight that left two passengers injured, and another brawl caught on camera. In less than 24 hours, Mumbai's suburban railway network witnessed four separate incidents of violence and panic, three of them confirmed by railway authorities and one that went viral on social media. The spate of incidents has once again put the spotlight on overcrowding, commuter behaviour and passenger safety on the city's lifeline.
A dispute over seats inside the CSMT-end ladies' first-class coach turned ugly after women boarding at Kalyan objected to fellow commuters allegedly making a Dombivli-Kalyan return trip solely to reserve seats before travelling onwards to CSMT. During the heated argument, one woman allegedly pulled out a pepper spray from her handbag and sprayed it on another passenger. After the train reached CSMT, personnel from the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF) detained both the complainant and the accused woman and handed them over to GRP CSMT for legal action.
Passengers at Kurla station were gripped by panic after a man was seen running towards the Kalyan end of Platform 1 carrying what initially appeared to be a suspicious object. Railway security personnel chased and detained him, only to discover that the object was a wooden stick. The man, identified as 49-year-old Sajid Abdul Karim Chaudhary, was found during preliminary inquiry to be mentally unstable and was handed over to Kurla GRP for further inquiry and legal action.
A video widely circulated on social media showed a violent fistfight inside a crowded Mumbai local train, with passengers seen punching and pushing each other as frightened commuters looked on. During the altercation, one person can be heard shouting "Machine nikaal" ("Pull out a weapon"), triggering further panic inside the coach. Railway authorities said the clip is being examined, but the date and location of the incident have not yet been established.
An argument between two passengers inside luggage compartment of a Parel-Ambernath local escalated into a violent scuffle. Both men sustained head injuries and were attended to by RPF and GRP personnel after train reached Kalyan station. They were later shifted to Rukminibai Hospital, with one later referred to Sion Hospital due to serious injuries; the second was subsequently shifted there as well. Preliminary investigation found that no sharp weapon was used, with officials saying one passenger suffered head injuries after being struck by the metal kada worn by the other. Kalyan GRP has initiated legal proceedings.
