72-yr-old man thrashed for carrying ‘beef’ on Dhule-LTT Express in Nashik, 3 held

NASHIK: The Govt Railway Police (GRP) on Saturday identified and detained three passengers who had allegedly roughed up an elderly co-passenger onboard the DhuleLTT Express on Aug 28.

GRP initiated action after a video, showing a group of passengers manhandling an elderly person belonging to a minority community, went viral on social media. In the clip, the attackers could be heard questioning the passenger if he was carrying beef.

GRP officials said the incident occurred near the Igatpuri station, when the train was on its way to Mumbai, on the morning of Aug 28.

“After the video went viral on social media, our officials tried to find the people involved. However, the elderly man, who was seen in the video being manhandled, had not lodged any complaint till that time. We managed to get in touch with the elderly passenger. He is currently at his daughter’s residence in Kalyan, and is safe,” Ravindra Shisve, the GRP state commissioner, said on Saturday.

“The 72-year-old had boarded the general compartment of the train at Jalgaon. He was on his way to Kalyan. We took down his complaint and tracked down three co-passengers — who can be seen in the video harassing the elderly man — to Dhule. The three men have been detained and are now being taken to Thane for further investigation,” Shisve added.

According to Shisve, the Thane GRP has registered an FIR based on the victim’s statement under sections 189 (unlawful assembly), 190, 191 (rioting), 126 (wrongful restraint), 115 (causing hurt), 351 (criminal intimidation), and 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Senior GRP sources said that the argument between the attackers and victim began over seating arrangements, but soon escalated. As seen in the video circulated on social media, the elderly man was manhandled and verbally abused.

Sources said the detained passengers had told the police that the elderly man was carrying raw beef and this got them agitated.

“However, the elderly man denied that he was carrying beef. He told us that he was carrying buffalo meat. After the passengers started protesting, the victim claimed he threw the meat out from the moving train. This allegation cannot be verified as there is no sample of the substance,” a GRP official said.