Mumbai: Woman lawyer alleges sexual harassment on train, accuses police of insensitive behaviour

A 25yearold woman lawyer on Thursday accused the railway police of allegedly treating her with insensitivity and apathy after a man sexually harassed her in the ladies compartment of a Mumbai local trainThe police force needs to be sensitized about how to behave with the victims of such incidents and be held accountable for their duties the woman said in a long Twitter thread which went viralThe incident took place on Wednesday morning when the woman was traveling to her workplace from Cotton Green to Jogeshwari on the harbour branch of Central RailwayAccording to police a man around 40 years old and apparently mentally unstable boarded the ladies first class compartment in which she was traveling alone at AndheriAs the train approached Jogeshwari station he sexually harassed her before jumping out and fleeingUpon reaching the Andheri Railway Police station I was visibly distressed and crying As I spoke to the police incharge and told them I was molested and Id be comfortable speaking about it to a female cop the first question he asked me was Molestation kya hota hai what is molestation the woman wrote in a tweetAs she identified the perpetrator in the CCTV footage one of the women police personnel kept telling her that being a lawyer she should have hit the man the woman saidAlso Read Mumbai Technical snag at Dadar station leads to delay on Central line commuters strandedShe was made to narrate the incident threefour times and her statement was recorded after three long hours at the Andheri Railway Police Station she claimedAt this point the officials told her that the spot where she was sexually harassed falls under the jurisdiction of the Borivali railway police station and the information would be forwarded to them she saidIn the evening she received a call from the Borivli Railway Police Station summoning her once again to identify the perpetrator in CCTV footageI have to go back and relive the most traumatic day of my life again because the Andheri railway police didnt forward the details of the exact person who did this to me she wroteToday scares me Im a privileged woman living close to south Mumbai I take a packed local at peak morning hours to reach my workplace Im educated and financially independent Being an advocate helps because I know the exact ambit of the duties of the police she saidWhile she can take a day off from work to calm herself down the way our police handle these situations is absolutely heartbreaking the woman addedIf she hadnt known that she had the right to ask for a woman police personnel to accompany her at the time of the recording of statement or if she had been younger from a minority from a weaker economic background someone who wasnt aware of those rights her situation would have been much worse she saidThe Twitter thread received more than 13000 likes and 4800 retweets during the dayIN PHOTOS Commuters forced to walk on tracks after CR services delayedThe Government Railway Police GRP later expressed regret in a tweetMaam we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to you The investigation is underway and we appreciate your cooperation all day through We have noted your account of our personnels behaviour and will sensitise them accordingly the GRP tweetedThe case was being investigated by Borivli GRP under the guidance of Deputy Commissioner of Police Western Zone it addedThe accused man seen in seminaked state in CCTV footage seemed to be mentally unstable and efforts were on to nab him said a police officialThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever