A female journalist was molested by a group of drunk men in a women’s compartment of a local train in Assam.
The incident happened when no security personnel were spotted in and around the coaches. It was only after several stoppages, the scribe was attended by two security personnel to ensure ‘safe’ journey.
“One of the men came towards me and groped me tightly and started touching me inappropriately… Blank for a moment I jumped up and somehow freed myself from his clutches and slapped and punched him in defense,” said the journalist in her early 30s. She requested anonymity.
The freelancer was traveling in the ladies compartment of Manas Rhino passenger train on June 22 which leaves Guwahati at 5:30 pm. The incident took place before reaching Tihu town in Nalbari district.
“I was dumbstruck…terrified…and ashamed. I somehow pulled myself up and considering my further safety, got down and shifted to a general compartment. I did not find any security personnel in and around the train,” said the Guwahati based journalist who was traveling to lower Assam’s Chirang district for an assignment
“Four men got in the compartment. They started making awful comments towards the four ladies left in the compartment by then. I could sense that at least two were in an inebriated condition. One of them was standing pretty close to my seat. I politely asked him to get down as it was a ladies compartment. He said he would get down at his destination at Tihu.”
The three other women who were in the compartment didn’t even raise a voice when the incident took place. They stepped out of the compartment, said the journalist.
She lodged an FIR at the Government Railway Police Force (GRPF) post at Bongaigaon town. The GRPF has said that the culprits will be booked. However, there was no CCTV in the station where the assailants got down from the train. The railway authorities couldn’t give any clarification as to how these men got into the ladies compartment.
According to a study ‘World of India’s Girls 2018’, released recently by Save the Children, 65 percent of adolescent girls in Assam do not feel safe traveling on public transport, while 51 percent find road to their schools, local markets and private tuitions unsafe. It also found that 73 percent of adolescent girls find lewd comments in public spaces as their biggest safety concern.
“This incident has left me in utter shock. It reminds me that women are nowhere and never safe… not even inside a so-called ladies compartment. It feels helpless…very helpless!” said the journalist.
