Youth dies after allegedly pushed out of Mathrubhumi train

Kolkata, Nov 17  A youth died after he was allegedly pushed out of the moving ladies special Mathrubhumi local train by an RPF constable, triggering a rail blockade and pitched battles between police and protesters in a vital suburban section in West Bengal on Tuesday night, railway sources said.

Thousands of commuters had a harrowing time as train movement was stalled in the Howrah-Burdwan main line of Eastern Railway.

Dipak Sharma purportedly boarded the Mathrubhumi local at Uttarpara station, and was allegedly thrown out of the train by the constable before it reached the next station Hindmotor.

As the youth was pronounced dead, irate male commuters beat up the constable, and began a blockade at Hindmotor station, and as police tried to lift the blockade, they were pelted with stones by the protesters.

Police resorted to a cane charge in their bid to control the situation.

However, though the blockade was lifted at Hindmotor after a couple of hours, some protesters started a blockade at Uttarpara station.

A relative of the deceased youth said Sharma had boarded the Mathrubhumi as his wife was travelling in that train.

Terming the incident "unfortunate", an Eastern Railway spokesman said an inquiry was on to ascertain whether the complaint against the RPF constable that he had pushed out the victim from the moving train was true.

"If he is found guilty, stringent action will be taken as per law," the spokesman said.

"But services are now slowly becoming normal. Our officers have persuaded the protesters to lift the blockades at both Hindmotor and Uttarpara."

In August, Mathrubhumi saw a territorial battle ensue along the state's railway tracks, as women clashed with men on several occasions to claim back what they saw was rightfully theirs -- an exclusive train for women sans any member of the opposite gender.

The male passengers resorted to train blockade alleging that a couple of men were pushed out of the Mathrubhumi, three coaches of which were marked 'general' by the railway authorities.