Mumbai: A senior TV journalist was beaten up by a group of around eight passengers inside an Andheri-bound local train from Mira Road. Reason: he boarded the train despite the people standing on the footboard preventing him from doing so.
The incident occurred Wednesday morning when Sudhir Shukla, who works for a Hindi television news channel, tried to board the local train at Mira Road railway station.
A group of about eight people tried to prevent him from boarding the train saying it was overcrowded but Shukla managed to board it all the same. According to a Government Railway Police (GRP) officer, the complaint said that as soon as Shukla entered the train, the group which had tried to prevent him from boarding, started arguing with him. Soon, they started assaulting Shukla and even tried to snatch his mobile phone when he tried to take a picture of them. Shukla suffered a bleeding head injury in the assault and was later taken to a local hospital in Andheri for medical treatment.
The Mumbai Crime Reporters’ Association too condemned the incident and demanded strict action against the accused. The Mumbai Press Club issued a statement that it had informed the government and police authorities and sought arrest of the attackers. According to the Press Club statement, “These commuters are known for blocking others from travelling on trains during peak hours. The violence goes unchecked by the police despite repeated incidents.”
Purshottam Karad, DCP of Western Railway (WR) GRP has assured strict action against the miscreants.
