Man dies after fall from women-only train

Passengers alleged that he had been pushed off the ‘Matribhumi Local’ train near Kolkata by a woman RPF constable

Matribhumi Locals or Ladies Special suburban trains run by the Eastern Railway, which saw pitched battles a few months ago between male and female commuters, were embroiled in a fresh controversy over the death of a man late on Tuesday evening.

Forty-year- old Dipak Sharma, who boarded the Howrah-Bandel Matribhumi Express, fell off the train and died between the Uttarpara and Hind Motor stations.

According to a section of passengers and his family members, he was allegedly pushed off the train by a woman constable of the Railway Protection Force. The constable and other passengers accompanying her were allegedly assaulted by an angry crowd at the Hind Motor station. The crowd then blocked the track for several hours.

“The condition of the constable improved today (Wednesday). No one has been arrested so far,” Superintendent of RPF, Howrah, Mehmood Akhtar told The Hindu.

Train services were disrupted till late on Tuesday evening as passengers also vandalised coaches and squatted on the track. The protesters pelted stones at the police at Hind Motor and an official was injured.

The blockade was lifted only after police resorted to a lathi-charge. But soon thereafter, a local politician accompanied by a large number of people squatted on the tracks again, disrupting traffic. Services were finally restored at around 11 pm.

Elderly man dies

Meanwhile, an elderly man died at the overcrowded Howrah station, teeming with stranded passengers.

Though services were normal on the Howrah Main line, there was tension in the Uttarpara-Hind Motor area of the State’s Hooghly district as the body of the victim was handed over to the family after post-mortem.

Disruption of railway services was reported a few months ago on the Sealdah-Bongaon line over male passengers demanding that some of the compartments of the Matribhumi Locals be open to all commuters at the Sealdah section. Several passengers, including police personnel, were injured in stone-pelting between men and women passengers at the Khardah railway station in North 24 Parganas.

Published - November 19, 2015 01:10 am IST