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NHRC seeks report on attack on women passengers

By Our Staff Reporter

THRISSUR MAY 31. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Inspector General of Railway Police (Kerala) on two separate incidents of attack on women on board a train near Thrissur in March this year.

The NHRC has taken the step on a complaint filed by the secretary of the Public Interest Forum, Thrissur, V.K. Venkitachalam. The commission has directed the IG to submit the action taken report within six weeks from the receipt of the order. The complainant said the two incidents occurred on the same train within a gap of ten days and almost in the same region.

In the first incident, a 74-year-old woman was pushed down from the train when she resisted the attempts of the assailants to snatch her gold chain while travelling to Guruvayur on the Egmore-Guruvayur express. The attack took place when the train was about to leave the Punkunnam station on March 6 and the victim, Saraswathy, wife of Ayyapath Sankara Menon of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu, was badly injured.

The second incident was on March 18 night and the victims were Sr. Serin (45), assistant professor in the department of botany of the Vimala College, Thrissur, and an official of the Children's Welfare Department, Sankari (25), who hails from Arattupuzha, near Urakam, in Thrissur district.

According to the complainant, Railways had failed to put up additional security reinforcements even after the first attack and had neglected the security aspects of the passengers.

He appealed to the NHRC to seek reports from the Railways on the compensation given to the passengers.

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