Mumbai: Mumbai: A differently-abled man, Umesh Patil, alleged that he was assaulted and verbally abused by a woman and her husband aboard a Mumbai local train on Thursday evening. The incident reportedly occurred in the coach reserved for handicapped passengers on a CSMT–Badlapur fast train.
A video of the altercation has since gone viral on social media. It shows Patil, an elderly commuter, standing near a window as a woman aggressively confronts him and uses foul language. Her husband can later be seen intervening and pulling her away from the scene.
Trigger Warning: Abusive language used. Viewers' discretion advised.
Victim Narrates Horrific Ordeal
In an exclusive interaction with The Free Press Journal, Patil recounted the ordeal: “The woman was sitting at the door of the handicapped compartment. As the train approached Dombivali, I asked her to get up so others could stand near the door. She and her husband began arguing and abusing me and another passenger who had also objected.”
Patil claimed the woman justified sitting at the door by stating that she was pregnant and needed to alight quickly. “But when I told her to mind her language, she twisted my words as an attack on her character. That’s when she became aggressive,” he said.
“She attacked me with her nails and hurled verbal abuses. She even pulled the train's emergency chain, creating panic in the compartment. Her husband eventually pulled her away, but I was left shaken,” Patil added.
Patil, a resident of Ambernath who works in Sewree, said his job does not permit him to take time off easily. “I can't afford to run around police stations. I'm an innocent man. I didn’t even retaliate. I’ve never misbehaved with women and yet I was attacked in public for no fault of mine,” he said.
While the Dombivli Government Railway Police (GRP) confirmed they contacted Patil and asked him to file a complaint, he reportedly said he would approach the CSMT GRP instead. However, as of now, neither Dombivli nor CSMT GRP has received a formal complaint from Patil.
Similar Case Reported Last Month
This latest case follows a similar incident reported earlier in May, in which a 40-year-old plumber from Mumbra was arrested for assaulting a disabled woman in a local train. The accused, Mohammed Ismail Hasan Ali Beg, was arrested on May 21 and produced before the CSMT Railway Court, which remanded him to police custody. Beg is a resident of Namdev Bhoir Chawl, Santosh Nagar in Mumbra.
