Railway Employee Accused of Molesting Girl, Beaten to Death by Angry Train Passengers

New Delhi: A railway worker who had allegedly sexually molested an 11-year-old girl was beaten to death early on Thursday by other passengers and members of the girl's family on a train to New Delhi, police authorities reported.

A family from Siwan boarded the Humsafar Express on Wednesday from Barauni, Bihar , to New Delhi, as per the officials. At approximately 11.30 pm, Prashant Kumar, a Group D railway employee, forced an 11-year-old girl from the family to sit on his seat. Kumar is accused of molesting the girl when her mother went to the restroom later.

The girl raced to the woman as soon as she emerged from the restroom, gave her a hug, and started crying. After telling her mother what had happened, she led her to the restroom. The mother then told the other passengers in the M1 (AC III class economy) coach on the train, as well as her husband and father-in-law.

After the train had reached at Lucknow's Aishbagh junction, Kumar was grabbed by angry passengers and family members who led him to the vicinity of the coach's doors, where they beat him till the train arrived at Kanpur Central, which is approximately 1.5 hours distant. At 4.35 a.m. on Thursday, when the train arrived at Kanpur Central, Kumar was taken to a hospital by Government Railway Police (GRP) officers, where they pronounced him brought dead.

Kumar's family has reported his murder, while the girl's family has reported sexual assault.

According to Kumar's uncle Pawan, a local police station official notified the family, who reside in Samastpur village in the Muzaffarpur region of Bihar , that their loved one had been brutally murdered.

That was not the kind of man Prasant was. It appears that a plot was involved in his death. He questioned, "Were there any members of the Railway Police Force nearby since he had been beaten for such a long time?"

Abhishek Yadav, Superintendent of Police, GRP (Prayagraj) said, "The girl said she had been assaulted when the train crossed Aishbagh. The accused was beaten up by her relatives and other travelers. A complaint was lodged and the culprit was turned over to the GRP at Kanpur Central. Upon arrival at the hospital, he was pronounced dead".