LAHORE: Pakistan Railways spokesperson Babar Ali Raza Tuesday said the woman, whose video of being tortured by a policeman on Millat Express train went viral, was asked by the police official repeatedly to leave another passenger's seat that she was occupying.
Talking to Geo News programme "Geo Pakistan", the spokesperson said after the woman, identified as Maryam Bibi, did not comply to the persuasion, the cop beat her severely.
He said first the passenger, whose seat she was occupying, himself requested her to leave the seat but when she began throwing his luggage, he complained to railway police.
"Then, police constable Mir Hasan begged the woman, identified as Maryam, for about 20-25 minutes to get up from the other passenger’s seat, but she refused," he said adding that all the information had been received from the passengers present there. “What happened next is in the (viral) video,” he said.
The incident transpired after a video of the policeman went viral on social media, in which he could be seen holding the woman by her hair and hitting her multiple times while other passengers watched silently.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Railways Abdullah Sheikh had said that the incident took place on April 7 on Karachi to Lala Musa-bound Millat Express. The woman later allegedly jumped off the running train and died.
The spokesperson said Hasan was on bail and they would again approach the court on Tuesday (today) to get his bail cancelled.
Contrary to reports run on local TV channels about Hasan murdering the woman, he said the cop only took her to another coach. The victim’s body was found near Chani Goth, Bahawalpur, while the police official left the train at Hyderabad station, he added.
Raza said the call detail record (CDR) of the official had also been obtained. According to the CDR, on April 7 and 8, the official was found to be in Karachi and Hyderabad, he said.
“As recorded in the register, on the April 7 at 7:25 the cop’s weapon was deposited in Hyderabad after he got off at the station. The passengers also did not see him outside the Hyderabad limits,” he said adding that the passengers shouted after the woman jumped from the train in Bahawalpur.
According to the witnesses’ statement so far, the woman had jumped by herself but they were not ruling out any aspect in the investigation, Raza said.
"We have passengers’ statements that the woman was taken to another coach. She was not kept in a solitary place,” he said adding that Mir Hasan would be called again as soon as the inquiry started.
A four-member inquiry committee led by DIG Railway Police (South Zone) would present its report to the chairman railways within three days. As per the woman’s relatives, she was mentally ill, the spokesperson apprised.
However, he said it was jurisdiction of the local police station, and not the railway police, where the woman jumped off the running train.
Brother of the woman, Afzal, said he had sent an application to a police station in Chani Goth, Bahawalpur through a mail to file a case against the constable and two other unidentified persons. He said his sister worked at a beauty parlour in Karachi and was a resident of Chak No 648 GB.
She was coming by Millat Express to celebrate the Eid holidays at home in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, on April 7, he said.
“The railway constable and two other suspects teased her and upon her stopping them they subjected her to torture. Following that, they pushed her off the running train,” he alleged, adding that Maryam succumbed to her wounds.
Afzal said the suspects also took cash and gold jewellery from her purse. He said his sister was murdered, hence, a case should be lodged under Section 302.