Rly cop thwarts rape bid on train, accused nabbed

Chennai: A Railway Protection Force constable on Monday night overpowered a man who was trying to sexually assault a 25-year-old woman on an MRTS train and rescued the victim. The accused, identified as 26-year-old S Satyaraj, was later arrested by the Government Railway Police before a court sent him to jail.

RPF constable K Shivaji, another constable and sub-inspector S Subbiah, who made up a night patrol squad, were travelling on a train from Velachery to Chennai Beach when they heard screams from the adjacent women’s coach around 11.45pm, just as the train pulled out of Chintadripet station, a police officer said.

Since MRTS trains don’t have a vestibule where one can travel from one coach to another, Shivaji waited till the train slowed down before Park Town, the next halt. Even as the train was rolling on to the platform, the constable jumped out and rushed to the neighbouring coach and found Satyaraj trying to assault the woman. He pushed him away and rescued the woman, officials said.

The other members of Shivaji’s team arrived and found the woman unconscious. Her lips were bleeding and her clothes had been torn. They called for an ambulance and rushed her to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where doctors said her condition is stable.

Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel attached to the Chennai Egmore Railway Station booked Satyaraj for attempt to rape.

GRP head Pon Manickavel met the victim in hospital and said the woman informed him that constable Shivaji had rescued her life. “I have given a cash reward of Rs 5,000 for the services of the RPF,” said IGP Manickavel.

Activists and lawyers noted that the attempted assault, shocking as it was, again exposed the vulnerability of passengers, particularly women, on MRTS trains and at stations, most of which are deserted late at night.

The railway police must increase the number of patrolling squads along all sectgions of the transit system and include policewomen in them, they said, while stations and trains need better lighting.