Child, women allegedly molested in metro rail carriage

Several men have allegedly molested a child and other female passengers boarding a Dhaka metro rail carriage reserved for women on a train travelling from Motijheel to Uttara.

A female passenger posted about the incident, which reportedly took place on Wednesday afternoon, on social media.

A passenger named Nilufar Parveen Mitu recounted the details of the incident on a public Facebook group named Bangladesh Metro Railway Information.

The post says she boarded the train at Farmgate and, around 4:50pm on Wednesday, a group of 10-12 men entered the carriage headed to the Uttara North Station and harassed women, including a child.

Contacted, she told Views Bangladesh: "I boarded the train from the Farmgate station. When the train left the station, a woman came to the door of the compartment with tears in her eyes, asking us to clear the way for her to get off the train. When we asked her why, the woman said that she and her daughter had been sexually harassed."

"There were 10-12 male passengers and one of them put his hand inside her daughter’s pants. Then everyone asked the men to get off the carriage. They started getting off in twos or threes from Agargaon, and those who were still on board in order to reach Mirpur10 Station were sent to another compartment."

The harassed woman got off at Agargaon Station with her daughter.

The Managing Director of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited Faruque Ahmed said the matter came to his attention and investigation was under way.

Faruque said that, after this incident, he will instruct the police personnel on duty to stand next to the women's compartments.

“The police are already on duty in the metro rail. I am instructing them to take up positions in the carriage next to the women's designated carriage."