Mumbai: When 37-year-old Nikita Mehta jumped a queue for railway tickets at the Malad Railway Station last afternoon, she had no idea what lay in store for her. Within a few hours, she was at the Borivli Railway Police Station, filing an FIR against unidentified railway officials and a policeman for allegedly assaulting her.
At 2 pm on Monday, Mehta, a resident of Andheri, was commuting from Malad to Andheri with her two children, aged three and one-and-a-half. She went to the Malad Station ticket counter to obtain tickets for the journey, struggling to manage her children along with the luggage she were carrying. "I was standing with my two small children. Seeing me, others who were waiting in the queue asked me to proceed directly to the counter window, without waiting in the queue. Following their instructions, I went straight up to the counter and asked for the tickets. The booking clerk rudely asked me to stand in queue," Mehta said.
She informed the clerk that others in the queue had themselves suggested that she move up. The clerk, however, refused to accept her explanations. "He started misbehaving with me, telling me that he would not give me the tickets unless I waited in the queue like others. I pleaded with him, and even my children had started crying by then. However, the clerk was unmoved by this, and started shouting at me," added Mehta.
According to Mehta, a policeman intervened in the altercation and took her to the stationmaster's cabin, where she eagerly went, looking to lodge a complaint against the clerk for his misbehaviour. At the stationmaster's office however, she was accosted by a woman in civil dress, who started abusing her and roughing her up.
"I asked the lady about the identity of the booking clerk, informing her that I intended to file a complaint against him. The woman, along with the policeman who had brought me there, started beating me up in the stationmaster's cabin. The man slapped me, while the lady held me by the neck and dealt heavy blows to my back. All the while, I was trying to protect my kids from their onslaught. My elder son sustained injuries on his hand. Luckily, I protected my younger child. Finally, I decided to lodge a police complaint," said Mehta.
An FIR has been lodged at the Borivli Railway Police Station, and the matter is under investigation. Meanwhile, Sharat Chandrayan, Chief PRO, Western Railways, said, "There was some kind of agitation among the passengers when the lady jumped the queue in order to purchase tickets. The stationmaster intervened and tried to pacify her. I haven't received any report regarding the alleged assault of the passenger."
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