Mumbai: Ticket checker assaulted by passenger over fine, case registered

Vasai (Maharashtra) [India], September 20 (ANI): A 29-year-old ticket checker (TC) was allegedly assaulted by a passenger for imposing a fine, officials reported on Friday. The TC, identified as Vijay Kumar Pandit, posted at Western Railway's Nalasopara Railway Station, was allegedly attacked with a hockey stick.
This incident marks the second case in Western Railway involving an assault on a railway employee by a passenger.
According to Pandit's statement to the Vasai Government Railway Police (GRP), he has been serving as a ticket checker at Nalasopara Station for the past 10 months. On September 19, around 7:13 am, Pandit was checking tickets on Platform No. 1, near the station master's office, when the incident occurred.
"A passenger deboarded from the first-class coach, and upon requesting him to show his train ticket, he presented a second-class ticket from Goregaon to Nalasopara," Pandit recounted. "I informed him that his ticket was invalid, as he had travelled in the first-class compartment, and consequently, he would need to pay a fine of Rs 345," he told the GRP.

The passenger requested leniency, claiming he only had Rs 210. Considering him a student, Pandit reduced the fine to Rs 150 and advised him against travelling in first class in the future.
After the transaction, the passenger left, and Pandit resumed checking tickets from another train. However, the passenger suddenly returned, striking Pandit from behind with a hockey stick, resulting in injuries and bleeding from behind his ear.
The assailant fled the scene, and Pandit's colleagues rushed him to Riddhi Vinayak Hospital in Nalasopara West for initial treatment, before transferring him to Jagjivan Ram Hospital in Mumbai Central East for further care.
Based on Pandit's statement, police have registered a case against the unidentified passenger under sections 121(2) and 132 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have initiated a search for him. (ANI)