The Mumbai police reportedly harassed a 26-year-old local train commuter for saving the life of an accident victim, who was lying by the tracks at Charni Road station on Monday night.
According to Hindustan Times, Shravan Tiwari, an MBA student had been waiting on the platform for his train to go home, when he noticed an unconscious body at the end of the tracks. When he went to investigate, he saw a man, injured and bleeding profusely, but alive.
“I thought he was dead, but when I held my finger under his nose, I felt his breath. As I turned to get help, I saw a train that had pulled into the station about to start towards Marine Lines. It would have crushed the injured man,” Tiwari told Hindustan Times.
Tiwari reportedly stood in front of the approaching local and managed to stop it, following which a few commuters jumped down from the train to help him.
I really wanted to save his life, I was desperate. I don’t know how I got the strength to stand in front of the train. After I stopped it, passengers got down and joined me; together, we stopped trains on other tracks as well and moved the man out of harm’s way.Shravan Tiwari to Mid-Day
According to the Mid-Day, Tiwari and the other helping commuters had shouted out for help from the Railway Police Force (RPF) several times, but had gotten no response. They then took the man to Saifee hospital for treatment.
According to Hindustan Times, the doctors at Saifee hospital told Tiwari that if he had brought in the man, identified as Ashwin Sawant even a little later, he may not have survived. After admitting him, Tiwari said that he called up the man’s family and asked them to come down to the hospital.
Mid-Day states that the hospital then called up the police as per protocol. However, it says, instead of congratulating Tiwari on his heroic deed, the police began to harass him, asking him why he didn’t wait for the police before transferring Sawant to the hospital, or why he went close to him in the first place.
Tiwari told Mid-Day that he was shocked at the police’s response and repeated harassment. The confusion was finally broken up when Sawant’s family came with a few local politicians, the report adds, to sort out the matter.
There was a lot of drama inside the hospital. Finally, though, the police realised their mistake and apologised.Shravan Tiwari told Mid-Day
(With inputs from Hindustan Times and Mid-Day)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)