A female passenger who was traveling on the Bahauddin Zakaria Express from Multan to Karachi was allegedly gang-raped by the ticket-checker and two other suspects.
The question is, who are the train crew members who gang-raped the woman? What can be done to prevent such incidents in the future?
Incident
The train crew gang-raped a woman on her way to Karachi. During the journey, the ticket checker, in-charge, and another person raped the woman, who was travelling back to Karachi after paying a visit to her in-laws. A case has been registered against the accused.
The victim’s staff has already escaped. According to the FIR, the husband had divorced the woman a month and a half ago. The woman reached Muzaffargarh on May 26 to meet her children and left for Karachi on May 27 via Zakaria Express.
The woman did not get a seat at the station but she got an economy class ticket and started her journey. Arriving at Rohri, Zahid, an employee of the train who was checking the tickets, asked the woman to travel in the berth of the AC bogie and introduced her to the in-charge named Aqib.
The woman was later allowed to travel in an AC bogie. After some time, Zahid came and raped the woman. When the woman tried to go to economy class, she was threatened with death. Aqib also raped the woman.
According to the text of the case, another man also raped the woman who could not be identified. The woman reached Karachi and informed the police and a case of the incident was registered after which a search for the accused and an investigation into the incident was started.
Who were the accused?
Police said that Zakaria Express is run by a private management group which is the SSR group according to Pakistan Railways. The incident of gang rape took place three days before today.
The victim of the gang rape is a resident of Orangi Town, who was raped by staff member Zahid and train manager Aqib. Zahid asked him to sit in AC business class while train manager Aqib was already there. In addition, a third member of the staff, Zohaib, also raped the woman.
What happened at City Station?
When the train reached the city station, no one came to pick up the woman. A railway police officer on duty at the city station offered to help her, but the woman did not tell the policeman what had happened to her.
After sitting there for some time, the Railway Lady Police brought him to the Police Station Help Center. There, the aid center official contacted her sister Hina and informed her to go to the police station with her husband. She went with them but did not report the incident.
Later, when the news was published in a local newspaper, DSP Karachi contacted the victim and asked her to report the matter. Then a case was registered against him. The report of the incident has been submitted to the CEO of Railway.
Position of Railway Department
The staff members are from the private sector and the IG Railway Police has issued arrest warrants for the accused. The CEO of Railways says that elections will be held in this regard and no one involved in the incident will be released.
Police action
The Railway Minister and Chairman Railway expressed regret over the incident and issued instructions for immediate arrest of the named accused.
He also directed to ensure the prevention of such incidents in private trains in the future. According to reports, two accused have been arrested while the railway police are conducting raids to nab the third.
