MUMBAI: A 28-year-old nurse returning home from work was allegedly molested by an inebriated youth in a ladies coach of a Virar-Dahanu train around midnight on Sunday.
The accused, Sukhram Ganva (22), who also tried to snatch her mobile, fled via the vestibule but was nabbed by GRP at Dahanu Road station after the woman, who was alone, raised an alarm.
The home guard on duty in the coach was absent and has been suspended.The woman fought off Ganva, a contract labourer employed in the track maintenance work, said Palghar GRP senior inspector Yogesh Devre.
He added that Ganva had entered the coach with the intention of robbing the woman.
He does not have a criminal record.
Around 11pm, the woman boarded the train at Virar.
When it reached Vangaon station after about an hour, she was alone in the compartment.
She was speaking on her cellphone when Ganva tried to snatch her phone at around 11.55pm.
She fought him off even as the train was moving.
As the train approached the last station–Dahanu Road—at 12.05 am, she raised an alarm and alerted the GRP officials on duty at the siding platform number 4.
The accused bit the woman on her hand and escaped through the vestibule.
The cops moved quickly through the vestibule and nabbed him.
Ganva has been booked under sections 354 (molestation) and 393 (attempt to robbery) of the Indian Penal Code and sections sections 137 (travelling without a ticket) and 162 (travelling in a ladies coach) of the Indian Railways Act.
He has been remanded in police custody for two days.
The police said that it would have been difficult to track the accused had he escaped as there are no closed-circuit television cameras on railway premises beyond Virar.
Devre said a request has been made to provide cameras on all stations up to Dahanu Road as suburban trains terminate there.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)