Mumbai woman loses arm after allegedly being pushed onto tracks at Naigaon

A 20-year-old woman lost her left arm below the elbow after she objected to being molested on a Mumbai local train and was allegedly pushed onto the tracks at Naigaon station. Police have arrested a 53-year-old man, Jitendra Hirmukhe, who has been booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita including attempt to murder. The incident happened on 4 November and drew wide attention this week after a video posted by the woman went viral.

According to the Bhayander Government Railway Police, the woman boarded a Virar-bound slow local at Borivali around 7.30 pm on 4 November and got into the compartment reserved for persons with disabilities because the ladies' compartment was overcrowded. Police say Hirmukhe, who was in the same compartment, began touching her inappropriately. In her complaint, as reported by the Times of India, he allegedly did so again when she confronted him at Naigaon station, and answered, “What difference does it make?”

The argument turned physical on the platform. According to the Times of India, the woman threw a slipper at him; he allegedly hit her with his own and then pushed her onto the tracks, into the gap between two coaches of the stationary train. As she tried to climb back onto the platform, the train began to move and her left arm was crushed under its wheels. Hirmukhe fled. She was taken to a hospital in Vasai and then to Cooper Hospital in Mumbai, where doctors amputated the arm.

Officers traced Hirmukhe through CCTV footage from the station and outside it, although he had covered his face with a handkerchief. He was arrested from his home in Naigaon. Police first registered a case under sections for molestation, causing hurt and intentional insult, and later added attempt to murder. He is in custody. A senior inspector told the Times of India that Hirmukhe has stomach cancer.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, the man it describes as the woman's fiancé alleged that many people on the platform did not step forward to help, and that the Vasai hospital only dressed her wound. These claims have not been independently verified. In her video, the woman said she was the sole earner for her family and wanted justice: “I have lost everything, I want justice.”