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MUMBAI: Reasoning that his mother died during the trial and that he was an "old man", a sessions court convicted and sentenced a 56-year-old man to six years rigorous imprisonment for a brutal daylight attack, robbery, and outraging the modesty of female passenger inside a ladies' coach of a running train in 2019.
The accused Mohammed Umar Shaikh alias Nasir alias Raja, was arrested only after the police picked him in similar case a couple of months later. While the maximum sentence attracted was 10 years in jail, the court sentenced him to the time he already served as an undertrial while stating that "it is necessary to take lenient view" considering his age and bereavement. He was also fined a total of Rs 6500, which is to be given to the victim as compensation.
The accused had stolen a gold chain weighing 32 grams, Rs 1000 and a mobile phone from the woman after physically and sexually abusing her. The accused was acquitted from rape charges as the judge noted that the victim's evidence had not stated anything such a sexual assault. Public prosecutor Sachin Jadhav cited the evidence of nine witnesses including the victim to seek the conviction. The victim told the court that the incident took place on Nov 15, 2019, between Borivli and Mumbai Central stations on the Ahmedabad Mumbai Passenger train.
A resident of Dadar, boarded the train at Palghar railway station after attending a court hearing in a property dispute at Panvel court. She said that the hearing was adjourned as the judge was on leave.
The woman said that she returned to Palghar Railway Station at about 12.30 pm. She purchased a sandwich and boarded the ladies coach of the train. The victim, unfamiliar with the train route as it was her first time, remained in the nearly empty compartment after passengers deboarded at Borivli, mistakenly believing Dadar was next.
An unknown man, aged 40-50, approximately 5-5.5 feet tall, wearing a brown half-sleeve shirt and black pants, boarded.
He approached her, touching her bag and asking about its contents and money. The woman said that he then closed the window and the compartment door, assaulted her, snatching her gold chain and hitting her head on the floor, causing bleeding and eye redness. He sexually assaulted her while she screamed "Vachva Vachva," and he choked and threatened her to silence. As the train slowed, anticipating a station, he stole Rs 1,000 and a mobile phone from her purse. The assault continued until the train stopped at Bombay Central, where the man deboarded. Injured and unable to stand, the victim, managed to get near the door. She said that two women sweepers who were on the platform helped her get off the train.
Her personal belongings were scattered across the bogie. The women called the police. The woman was treated and an FIR was registered at Borivli railway station, the designated jurisdiction. Cops received a major breakthrough when the Crime Branch found a similar crime registered at Mumbai Central Railway Police Station, where the accused was already arrested on Jan 1, 2020.
Shortly after his arrest in that case the disclosed the location of the stolen property.
The next day, he led police to the stolen 32-gram gold chain. The chain had been given to his mother, who then passed it to an acquaintance, Afazalali Rindali, who sold it to goldsmith Mukundarai Trivedi. The police successfully recovered the gold chain from the goldsmith and recorded his statement as part of the evidence.The victim identified the accused during a Test Identification Parade (TIP) conducted at Byculla Jail on Feb 26, 2020.
CCTV footage, examined by the investigating officer, confirmed that the accused was seen boarding the ladies' coach from Platform No 7 of Borivli Railway Station at approximately 2 pm on the day of the incident. The accused was found guilty under sections 394 (Voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery) and 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He was also found guilty under Section 162 of the Indian Railway Act, which prohibits a male from entering or remaining in a compartment or other place reserved for females without a lawful excuse. He was fined Rs 500 for this offence.
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