Girl’s SOS tweet from Bhubaneswar Rajdhani train sees harasser behind bars

Bhubaneswar: The incident of a girl being harassed in Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani express by her co-passenger has once again raised question over safety of women travelling in trains.

However, the victim’s courage to speak about the incident on social media and subsequent move by her friends seek to assistance from Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Twitter ensured that the culprit was soon arrested.

The incident occurred on Thursday, when the girl student travelling in the Bhubaneswar-New Delhi faced her worst ordeal as a middle-aged co-passenger allegedly groped her while she was sleeping on the upper berth in the train.

In her Facebook post, the victim has questioned the mentality of the co-passenger. “I wasn’t sleeping shirtless or wearing anything that exposed my skin which could this act as an ‘invitation’ for men to come and touch me as some people believe,” the victim wrote in her Facebook page.

The victim girl further wrote, “The co-passenger (in his 50s) was of her father’s age and was talking with his daughter in the morning.

Following her SOS on Facebook, the victim’s friends were the first to swing into action and brought the matter to the notice of the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu who then directed GRP officials at Tatanagar to take appropriate measures in connection with the incident.

After arresting the accused Baniprasad Mohanty, Tatanagar GRP officials forwarded him to their counterparts in Bhadrak as the incident occurred in their jurisdiction.

“The incident had occurred in Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express and the man who had molested the girl passenger has been arrested,” said Officer-in-charge of Bhadrak GRP, Dharnanidhar Pradhan.

However, the accused Baniprasad Mohanty, who hails from Khurda, has refuted the allegations made against him.