28 January,2014 07:15 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
The 24-year-old German national was waiting for her train in the Bandra Terminus retiring room on Saturday, when a man approached her and allegedly touched her inappropriately
A 24-year-old German national was sexually harassed at Bandra Terminus, while she was waiting for her train. After hearing her screams for help, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials caught the accused and handed him over to the local police at Nirmal Nagar police station.
The empty area around the ladies' retiring room on the first floor of Bandra Terminus. The German national was allegedly molested inside the room
The woman is a graphic designer from Berlin, Germany. She had come to India for a tour, and before coming to Mumbai, she had been to Karnataka. She arrived in the city on Saturday afternoon and was to catch a train to Ajmer in Rajasthan. A police officer from Nirmal Nagar police station said, "She had reached two hours before her train's departure. Therefore, she decided to wait in the retiring room on the first floor of the main Bandra Terminus hall."
While reading a book, the woman fell asleep. The accused, Shaukat Ali, who stays in the area around the station, approached the woman allegedly in an inebriated state. He first masturbated while she was asleep, and then allegedly touched her inappropriately. Following this, the woman woke up and screamed for help. RPF officials on the ground floor rushed to the spot on hearing her and nabbed Ali before he could escape.
Police Sub-inspector Sachin Patil from Nirmal Nagar police station confirmed the incident to this newspaper, saying, "The accused was produced in the Bandra court on Sunday and was remanded to judicial custody. He was in an inebriated state."
Meanwhile, the woman was in a state of shock. Though she has left for Ajmer, she told a lady police official that she was afraid to travel alone in the country. When MiD DAY reached the spot, even after the incident, there was no security guard manning the ladies' retiring room. Outside the room, several people were sleeping on the floor, with no one to ask them any questions. The place was extremely isolated, barring one or two people seen milling about the premises.
