In a shocking incident, an eight-year-old girl was thrown out of a moving train by an Army jawan after she resisted his attempts to molest her inside a train toilet, near Lonand in Satara district of Maharashtra. The girl, despite her injuries and trauma, narrated the ordeal and provided description about the accused, helping the police nab him within hours.
The incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday on the Goa-Nizamuddin Express on which the girl, a daughter of an ex-serviceman, was travelling to Delhi with her mother, father, sister and brother. The accused has been identified as Prabhu Malappa Uphar, a jawan posted at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.
According to reports, the girl was fast asleep when Uphar picked up her and walked to the toilet. However, as he tried to molest her, she woke up, resisted his advances and started shouting, the police said. Uphar took her out of the toilet and pushed out of the moving train.
Sadanand Wayse Patil, Superintendent of Police (Pune division), Government Railway Police (GRP) told a news agency that the girl sustained less grievous injuries since the train was moving slowly due to the ghat section. A few local, who spotted her lying on the railway tracks, took her to hospital, he said.
According to police, the family was unaware about the missing child since they thought she was sleeping on the upper berth.
Based on the girl's statement from the hospital, the police launched a search operation and at least 400 police and GRP constables boarded the train at various stations to ensure that the accused does not flee.
Uphar was arrested when the train was near Bhusaval in north Maharashtra.
