Woman raped by vendor onboard Bengaluru-Delhi express train
Bhopal(PTI): A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a vendor in the pantry car of a moving train near Itarsi railway station in Madhya Pradesh, a senior official of the Government Railway Police (GRP) said on Saturday.
The incident occurred in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday in the pantry car of Sampark Kranti Express, which operates between Yeshwantpur (Bengaluru) and Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi), Hitesh Choudhary, Superintendent of Police (SP) of the GRP said.
The suspected accused, who was hiding in the train, was caught at Jhansi railway station, he said.
The victim had boarded the AC coach of the train as an unauthorised passenger in Bhusawal (Maharashtra), when a railway staffer told her to go to the general coach, the official said.
However, instead of going to general coach, the woman went into the pantry car, where a vendor allegedly raped her, he said. The victim alighted at Bhopal and narrated the ordeal to the GRP, the SP said.
After stopping for half an hour, the train moved while the police interrogated some of the vendors, he said.
Later, on the basis of information shared by the woman, who seemed mentally disturbed, a suspected accused was caught from the train at Jhansi this morning, the official said.
A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and further investigation is underway, he added.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
