Railway employee beaten to death by passengers for allegedly molesting girl on train

Amid the rising protest over the rape and murder of Kolkata's PG doctor at RG Kar Hospital, a railway employee was beaten to death in a train to New Delhi early on Thursday after the kin alleged the employee sexually assaulted the 11-year-old.

According to a report by NDTV, on Wednesday a family from Siwan had boarded the Humsafar Express from Bihar's Barauni Bihar to New Delhi. By 11.30 pm, the Group D railway employee Prashant Kumar asked to 11-year-old girl to sit on his seat. Later when the minor's mother went to the washroom, the Group D railway employee allegedly molested the girl.

When the girl's mother returned from the washroom, she ran to her and started crying. After being asked why, the girl described the incident to her mother in the train washroom.

The report added that following this, the woman informed her husband, father-in-law, and other passengers in the M1 (AC III tier economy) coach on the train about the whole incident.

When the train reached the Aishbagh junction in Lucknow, the girl's kin grabbed Kumar and took him near the coach's doors. Until the train reached Kanpur Central, Kumar was thrashed by the girl's kin.

At 4.35 am, when the train reached to Kanpur Central, the Government Railway Police (GRP) took Kumar to a hospital, but he was declared dead.

Cases lodged:

The girl's kin have complained of sexual assault against the railway employee, while his kin have filed a complaint of murder against the minor's family.

Meanwhile, Kumar's uncle Pawan – who lives in Bihar's Samastipur – claims he was not that kind of man and alleges conspiracy. "Prashant was not that kind of man. It seems he was killed as part of a conspiracy. He was beaten for so long, were there no personnel from the Railway Police Force around," NDTV quoted him as saying.

Superintendent of Police, GRP (Prayagraj), Abhishek Yadav said, as quoted by NDTV, "When the train crossed Aishbagh, the girl said she had been molested. Her family members and other passengers beat up 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."