The government railway police (GRP) at Mumbai Central in the early hours of October 12  arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly molesting a transgender woman at Dadar station on Friday, October 11. The accused has been identified as Prakash Devendra Bhatt.

However, the survivor said the police was not cooperative while arresting the accused. She said the police did not register the FIR till she proved her gender, and that the police wanted her to produce a gender certificate before registering a FIR under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The complainant took to social media to share her ordeal. She was travelling from Navi Mumbai and disembarked at Dadar station to board a Gurgaon train when Bhatt touched her inappropriately.

Following this, she raised an alarm and dragged the culprit to the GRP to register a complaint. She mentioned that the police wanted to help, but failed to register immediately as the section concerned refers to women.

The cops later called women police officers to get a medical examination to which the complainant resisted and said that she was not injured. “After a little explaining, they wanted proof that I was entitled to register a molestation complaint to present in court,” said the complainant.

Later, the survivor submitted the gender certificate to the police. Two hours after she submitted the proof, police registered an FIR and arrested the accused on Friday night.

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