In a recent incident on October 9th, Monday, a dispute between a Western Railway ticket checker, Minal Jadhav, and a female passenger, later identified as S. Shankar, escalated into physical altercations, resulting in both parties registering cases against each other. The Bandra Government Railway Police (GRP) is currently conducting an investigation into the matter.
The incident unfolded when Minal Jadhav, who is also a sportswoman, was heading home after completing her duty. She boarded a women's first-class compartment of a Goregaon-bound slow local train with her colleague Varsha Bhosale at approximately 5:20 pm from Lower Parel.
The situation escalated when S. Shankar, aged around 30 years, entered the same compartment and sat in front of Minal after the train stopped at Dadar. Varsha got down from the train at Matunga railway station at around 5:27 pm. Subsequently, S. Shankar occupied the vacant window seat, sparking an argument that quickly escalated into a physical altercation. Both women have alleged that they were assaulted by the other party.
Case registered
The Bandra GRP has registered a case against both Minal Jadhav and S. Shankar under sections 323 and 504 of the Indian Penal Code, which pertain to voluntarily causing hurt and intentional insult, respectively. This has resulted in a cross-case scenario, and further investigations are underway.
According to Minal Jadhav, she attempted to explain the situation to S. Shankar, but it led to verbal abuse and physical aggression. Minal claimed that S. Shankar grabbed her collar, slapped her, and even bit her right wrist. She promptly informed the control, and an on-duty government railway police official attended to the situation at Khar Road station.
Female police officer intervenes
Upon arriving at Khar railway station, a female police officer intervened, taking both parties to the police station for questioning. S. Shankar has alleged that Minal Jadhav also assaulted her and snatched her purse. However, railway officials assert that Shankar's purse was discarded by herself at Bandra railway station, and CCTV footage reportedly shows someone picking it up from the platform. The police are currently searching for S. Shankar's missing purse.
