4-yr-old run over on tracks, locals stop trains

Mumbai: Train services on Central line in Mumbai were affected from 5.35 pm to 6.51 pm on Monday, when a mob staged a protest, refusing to let go of the body of a four-year-old girl, who was run over by a Titwala-bound local train while crossing tracks.

The victim, Asmita Chingare, was walking across the tracks with her mother to go to her hutment nearby when she was hit by the approaching train between Mumbra and Kalwa stations.

While Asmita's mother is safe, the girl succumbed to her injuries on the spot.

A Government Railway Police (GRP) official, requesting anonymity, said, "The agitators refused to allow the body of the girl to be lifted from the tracks as they alleged that the accident could have been averted if the motorman of the train that hit Asmita had sounded the horn when he saw her crossing the tracks."

Rapid results
Finally, the help of the rapid action force (RAF) was sought to clear the agitators from the tracks and Asmita's body was moved more than an hour after the mishap. The body was taken to Thane civil hospital for post-mortem.

However, the mob again gathered at the hospital to stage protest for some time.

When MiD DAY contacted CPRO, Central Railway, Vidyadhar Malegaonkar, regarding the allegation of the motorman of the train not sounding the horn on seeing Asmita, he merely said, "Our motormen are working responsibly as per the guidelines issued to them."