Asim Hussain, a middle-aged Muslim man stripped to the waist and assaulted with a belt has now been arrested on charges of alleged misbehaviour with a female co-passenger on the same train.
The woman passenger is a resident of Shahjahanpur.
Speaking to reporters, the Superintendent of Police (SP) of the Government Railway Police (GRP) Aparna Gupta said that Hussain, who was travelling on Padmavat Express from Delhi to Pratapgarh on January 15, sexually harassed a woman after offering her a seat next to him.
“Initially an assault case for registered because of the situation’s gravity. However, preliminary investigations revealed that the woman was travelling with her brother on the train. Hussain had offered a seat next to him and then started misbehaving with her. Since her brother was a little far away, he could not come to her rescue. However, two young men saw this and then assaulted Hussain,” Gupta told reporters.
According to Gupta, police were unable to talk to the victim. “Search operations were formed and when we finally found her, she confirmed the incident. She said Hussain was beaten up after passengers saw his behaviour towards her,” said Gupta.
The police have registered a molestation case against Hussain under Section 354 IPC (Assault of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty).
When asked about religious slogans being yelled at as well as Hussain’s beard being pulled by his assaulters, the senior police officer replied in denial.
“There were no such instances according to our investigations. Besides, even the victim confirmed that Hussain was beaten up for molesting her and nothing more,” Gupta said.
About the case
A video had gone viral on social media of Asim Hussain stripped to the waist, assaulted by a belt and asked to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ by a group of right-wing Hindu men.
“There was a crowd. Suddenly nearly 8-10 people started disturbing and all of a sudden someone shouted from behind ‘yeh Mulla chor hai’ (he is a thief),” Hussain said while speaking to reporters.
“They beat me so much that I almost lost consciousness. Then someone from the same crowd took mercy on me and threw me out when the train reached Moradabad station. After that, someone from the station offered me clothes,” said Hussain.
Soon after, the deputy superintendent of police, Railway, Moradabad, in his official Twitter account said that action has been taken against two people.
“From the information gathered by co-passengers and the viral video, two alleged accused were taken into custody. These two had alighted at Bareli railway junction,” the police officer said.
