No doctor at hand, Rajdhani lady dies

The Teleraph

Burdwan, Sept. 22: An ailing woman died on board the Sealdah-bound Rajdhani Express after she complained of uneasiness but no doctor could be found for over an hour. Rahima Bibi, 45, who lived with her elder son Liakat Hossain, 28, in Barasat, was returning to Calcutta from Delhi, where she had gone to visit her younger son, Altaf, 26, an embroiderer. Altaf’s wife Parveena Bibi, 22, who was accompanying Rahima, said her mother-in-law had fever when she boarded the train yesterday. “After the train left Asansol station at 9.30am today, my mother-in-law complained of uneasiness. I informed the ticket examiner immediately,” Parveena said. The ticket examiner and one of the guards asked passengers over the public-address system of the train if there were any doctors among them. However, they did not get any response. When the train reached Burdwan after an hour, it made an unscheduled stop. A railway doctor examined Rahima and declared her dead. A senior railway official said no train in the country had provision for doctors on board. The official said Rahima was “already ill when she had boarded the train”. A Government Railway Police officer said the body had been sent for post-mortem. Molest slur on officer An Australian tourist on her way to north Bengal today accused a railway official from Bengal of molesting her in a near-empty AC-two-tier compartment of the Danapur-Kamakhya Express in Bihar. Malda resident Anup Kumar Roy, 50, a deputy chief executive engineer, had entered the compartment after the train left Katihar, 320km from Patna. Roy sat near her and asked the woman why she was travelling alone. After some time, he allegedly started misbehaving with the 41-year-old woman, who was travelling to New Jalpaiguri. The officer stopped only when she shouted for help, the Australian told police later. When the train reached Barsoi station after 45 minutes, the woman filed a written complaint with the Government Railway Police. Roy has been arrested. She then continued with her onward journey. Satyadev Pandey, the deputy superintendent of police (headquarters), railways, said: “Most of the passengers had got down at Katihar. Roy took advantage of the situation and misbehaved with the woman.”