Railway employee accused of sexually abusing a girl – train passengers beat him to death

New Delhi:

A railway employee was beaten to death by family members of a girl and other passengers on a New Delhi-bound train early Thursday morning after he allegedly sexually assaulted the 11-year-old, police said.

According to authorities, a family from Siwan boarded the Humsafar Express from Barauni Bihar (Bihar) to New Delhi on Wednesday and around 11.30 pm, Group D railway employee Prashant Kumar forced an 11-year-old girl from the family to sit on his seat. Later, when the girl's mother went to the toilet, Kumar allegedly molested the girl.

As soon as the woman came out of the toilet, the girl ran to her, hugged her and started crying. She took her mother to the toilet and told her what had happened. The mother then informed her husband, father-in-law and other passengers in the M1 (AC III-Economy) coach of the train.

The train had reached the Aishbagh junction in Lucknow when the angry passengers and family members grabbed Kumar, took him to the area near the coach doors and beat him up until the train reached Kanpur Central, about an hour and a half away. When the train entered Kanpur Central at 4.35 am on Thursday, Government Railway Police (GRP) officials took Kumar to a hospital where he was declared dead, officials said.

While the girl's family filed a complaint of sexual assault, Kumar's family filed a complaint of murder.

Kumar's uncle Pawan said the family, who live in Samastpur village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, learned that he had been beaten to death after an official at the local police station informed them about it.

“Prashant was not such a man. It seems that he was killed in a conspiracy. He was beaten for so long, were there no railway police personnel nearby?” he asked.

Abhishek Yadav, Superintendent of Police, GRP (Prayagraj), said, “When the train passed Aishbagh, the girl said she was sexually harassed. Her family members and other passengers beat the accused. At Kanpur Central, the accused was handed over to the GRP and a complaint was filed. When he was taken to the hospital, he was declared dead.”