- Friday, February 07, 2025
The victim was travelling alone in the women’s compartment and the assailant is a history-sheeter who was recently granted bail
By: India Weekly
A 31-YEAR-OLD man was arrested allegedly for attempting to sexually assault a four-month pregnant woman in a moving train and pushing her out of the compartment near Katpadi in the district, police said on Friday.
The 36-year-old victim, a native of Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, was travelling alone in the women’s compartment on Thursday night when the man, said to be a history-sheeter, boarded the train at Jolarpet railway station, and attempted to sexually assault her, police said.
Resisting his attempt, she ran towards the restroom in a bid to lock herself but he pursued and pushed her out of the train, a police official said.
She sustained fractures on her hand and leg.
Passers-by who noticed her fall from the train admitted her to the Government Medical College Hospital in Vellore.
Police said Hemraj, from K V Kuppam, who was arrested based on CCTV footage, was recently let out on bail in connection with the murder of a woman in Chennai.
He was booked under the Goondas Act in 2022, the police official added.
The woman has been living with her husband, a tailor, and son in Tamil Nadu’s Tirupur for several years.
She had decided to go to her mother’s home in Chittoor as she was pregnant and accordingly boarded the Coimbatore-Tirupati Intercity Express alone on Thursday night.
Expressing ‘shock’ over the incident, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami demanded stringent action on ‘such perverts and devious characters.’
Expressing in a similar vein, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss said the perpetrators of crimes against women should be severely punished without delay. They should not be granted bail.
Ruling DMK’s ally and TNCC chief K Selvaperunthagai sought strict action on the offenders. Police armed with weapons should be deployed in train compartments where women travel, he suggested. (PTI)
