Bengaluru: A girl student of a private college in the city was locked inside a BMTC bus by the conductor and driver for over 45 minutes at Yelahanka police station limits on Wednesday.
The incident came to light after the girl took to social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to narrate her horror. Soon after her post went viral, senior police officers swung into action and arrested the accused BMTC conductor under suo-moto case.
DCP (North-East) P.S. Harsha, told reporters, “The accused conductor, Uma Shankar, was arrested on Thursday morning. The police treated the Facebook post as an official complaint and a case was registered in Yelahanka Old Town police station. The conductor has been booked under Section 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 342 (punishment for wrongful confinement) of IPC. They had also contacted the girl student for filing FIR but she chose not to go ahead with the complaint. The issue is being probed from all angles and a report will be submitted by the ACP.”
According to her post, when she cried for help the policemen, who were reportedly present at the spot, remained mute spectators and did not help her.
When she approached the police to register an FIR, the police inspector attached to Yelahanka police station allegedly discouraged her to pursue the complaint and even told her that the case might drag on for 5 to 6 years, she stated in her post.
According to her post, the girl and her male friend was travelling in a BMTC bus on Wednesday night. According to her complaint, while they were heading home, the conductor approached them and started abusing her friend for standing by her side in the ‘ladies-only’ section.
Soon, a brawl broke out between the conductor and her friend following which her friend fled the spot after pushing the conductor to the ground. Little did Smriti know that she will end up being hostage for no fault of hers.
“I was detained alone in a local BMTC bus (402B, KA8022) by the conductor and driver. Some police inspectors were just outside the NES, Yelahanka police station. I was coming home from college, when the conductor picked up a fight with my north-eastern friend and began to abuse him for standing by my side in the middle section (ladies section) of the bus. When my friend went and sat on the stairs, the bus conductor began hurling abuses at him and even pushed him. Enraged over this, my friend did the same following which the conductor fell onto the floor.”
It further read, “Seeing the conductor falling on the floor, soon a mob gathered thinking that my friend is an attacker and surrounded him. Sensing trouble, he fled. Meanwhile, the conductor, who got offended decided to stop by the NES police station (one of the stops on the bus route) and demanded that I provide details about my friend. Before I could do anything, the conductor locked me inside the bus. When I ordered him to release me, he refused, and the policemen who were present there said they wouldn’t open the bus till my friend arrives at the police station.”
However, after Smriti called her friends, who reached the spot after an hour and subsequently led to her release. However, Smriti has decided not to file the complaint as her family is afraid of the repercussions.
On Thursday Smriti took to social media networking site Facebook and thanked the police officials for their intervention and said, “I received a call from the Deputy Commissioner of police Yelahanka to ask if I want to file an FIR. But, due to concerns from family members, I will not be filing this FIR because they feel that the repercussions. However I will be consulting the senior police officials about what actions should be taken.”
Meanwhile, the BMTC official clarified on the issue and said that the conductor had objected girl’s batchmate sitting in a seat reserved for women passengers. The BMTC has reserved seats exclusively for women passengers and conductors are responsible for enforcing it.
However, the conductor was manhandled by the girl’s batchmate. The bus was diverted to Yelahanka Police Station by the BMTC crew to lodge a complaint. She has also complained that she was detained in the bus, when it was taken to Yelahanka police station. In this connection the conductor and the girl passenger have lodged complaints at Yelahanka Police Station and investigation is on.
