Kolkata: A railway travelling ticket examiner (TTE) in his early 40s was arrested from Sonarpur on Thursday morning, days after two students of a dance school accused him of subjecting them to severe harassment after they mistakenly boarded a vendor compartment of a local train from Gobardanga railway station on the Sealdah-Bongaon section of Eastern Railway.The incident took place at Bongaon station on July 28, where the TTE allegedly took them into a room and made obscene remarks, including, “I will marry one and make the other dance all night.” The two women subsequently lodged a written complaint with the Bongaon GRP.The accused TTE, Prashanta Nath, was arrested after being interrogated and has been remanded in judicial custody for four days after being produced in a Bongaon court on Thursday afternoon.“The two students had boarded a train from Gobardanga station after buying tickets to travel to Ranaghat, where they were scheduled to attend a dance class. They allegedly boarded the vendor compartment by mistake and were supposed to get off at Bongaon station and take a Ranaghat-bound local train,” a Bongaon GRP officer said.According to the complaint, after they got off at Bongaon station, they were stopped by Nath, a resident of Bira near Ashoknagar. He allegedly demanded a fine of Rs 2,500 for travelling in the vendor compartment.As the two students did not have enough money, they called their mothers. Their teacher also called to ask why they were late. According to the complaint, Nath spoke abusively to their parents and the teacher on the phone. The women claimed Nath then took them into a room and made inappropriate remarks. The girls’ parents and teachers lodged a written complaint at Bongaon GRP police station. More than 100 dancers later staged a protest outside the station.
