Jodhpur-Hyderabad train halted for 2 hrs in Maharashtra over youth ‘assault’; RPF denies charge

Passengers protested at Maharashtra’s Hingoli railway station, halting the Bhagat Ki Kothi-Kacheguda Express for over two hours over allegations of RPF personnel assaulting a teenager and misbehaving with women. Police intervened, assured an investigation, and the train resumed its journey

Hingoli: Passengers staged a protest at Maharashtra’s Hingoli railway station, halting a Jodhpur-Hyderabad train for more than two hours on Thursday after alleging that RPF personnel assaulted a youth and misbehaved with his women co-travellers, officials said.

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) official, however, denied the assault allegations and said RPF personnel had objected to some ticketless passengers recording videos.

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The alleged incident occurred aboard the Bhagat Ki Kothi-Kacheguda Express (Train No. 17606) after it crossed Washim, located about 40 km from Hingoli, in the early hours of Thursday.

Some passengers, followers of Dr B R Ambedkar, were returning from Nagpur after attending a Dussehra event. They boarded the train at Akola for Nanded, but one of their companions, a teenager, allegedly entered a reserved coach by mistake.

The protesters alleged that the youth was assaulted by some passengers and RPF personnel. When women travelling with the group tried to intervene, they were allegedly pushed and misbehaved with, while other members of the group were also assaulted.

When the train reached Hingoli station, the agitated passengers got off, sat on the railway tracks in front of the train’s engine, raised slogans against the railway personnel, and prevented the train from moving.

The train was delayed by more than two hours due to the protest, a railway official at Hingoli station said.

The Hingoli town police reached the station and intervened to defuse the situation. The protest was withdrawn after the police assured the protesters that their complaint would be investigated, following which the train resumed its journey, an official said.

When contacted, RPF inspector S P Paswan denied the allegations. He said the RPF personnel were clearing the crowded B2 coach when they objected to some ticketless passengers allegedly recording videos.

The teenager panicked after being asked to delete the recordings, he said.

Noticing his condition, an RPF constable contacted the train guard and Hingoli station master to arrange a doctor, the official said.

An investigation is underway into the incident, he added.