Thiruvananthapuram | A 25-year-old woman was sexually harassed by a man aboard the Malabar Express on Tuesday and was beaten up when she threatened to report him to the police.
The woman claimed that the accused would have killed her if the public had not intervened.
"If it had happened inside the train while it was running, he would have pushed me off it. I would have become another 'Soumya'," the woman told reporters.
She was referring to the rape and murder of 23-year-old Soumya on a moving train in February 2011 by Govindachamy, who is currently serving a life sentence for the sexual assault after the Supreme Court set aside the murder conviction.
An officer of Thampanoor Railway police station here said that the 39-year-old accused was arrested and will be booked for the offences under sections 74(assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 75(sexual harassment), 115(voluntarily causing hurt) and 125 (wrongful restraint) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said that the woman boarded the train from Chirayinkeezhu as usual on her way to work in Thiruvananthapuram city and the man kept touching her inappropriately throughout the journey.
Initially, she thought it was due to the crowd of passengers, but later she objected to his behaviour, police said.
While she was getting off at the Pettah railway station, she told the accused that she would report him to the police.
Angered by her threat, he beat her as a result of which she fell unconscious on the platform, police said.
On seeing this, others on the platform intervened and detained the accused and handed him over to the police.
The woman, who works in the public relations department of a prominent hospital in the capital city, told reporters that the man allegedly hit her on the face, pushed her off the train on to the platform and was going to kick her when the public intervened.
"He also abused me," she claimed.
She claimed that the accused got angry because she threatened to report him to the police and would have killed her if the public had not intervened.
Police said that there is also an assault case registered against the accused in Attingal.
