Gujarat: Disabled passenger thrown off moving train dies; one arrested

A 35-year-old man with a disability died after being thrown out of a moving train by two other passengers near Jamnagar, in Gujarat, after he objected to their presence in the compartment reserved for the disabled, the railway police said.

While the incident took place in the early hours of Wednesday, Jamnagar railway police on 15 May, Thursday, arrested one of the accused, identified as Haji Ayyub Kachhadia and launched a hunt for co-accused Saddam Kachhadia.

The victim’s body was found under the Gulabnagar railway over-bridge near Jamnagar city on Wednesday morning, 14 May.

The deceased was identified as Hitesh Mistry (35), a resident of Vadodara who was returning home from Porbandar by the Saurashtra Express on Tuesday night, said the Jamnagar railway police in a statement.

Mistry, along with a friend who is also ‘divyang’ (disabled), was travelling in a coach reserved for passengers with disabilities, said police inspector Bharti Vegda.

“Between Porbandar and Jamnagar, the accused duo entered the special coach... When Mistry objected, they quarrelled with him, thrashed him and then pushed him off the train before Hapa station, resulting in his death,” said Vegda.

While the duo picked up a fight with Mistry, his disabled friend got down at the Jamnagar station to seek help. But as the train started moving before he could find a policeman, he was forced to board another compartment, said another official.

When the train halted at Hapa station, he returned to the special compartment but found neither Mistry nor the two men. He then alerted the railway police at Hapa station and filed a complaint. Later in the morning, Mistry’s body was recovered under the railway overbridge.