The Mumbai Press Club express deep shock and concern over a youth attacking lady journalist Ms Manisha Gurav inside a railway train at Kalva in Thane district. The culprit attempted to molest her and escaped with the cellphone of the lady journalist.

We appeal to the Government Railway Police, which is investigating the case, to nab the culprit as early as possible.

We seek the indulgence of Hon'ble Shri Devendra Fadnavis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who also holds the Home portfolio, to personally look into the issue and ensure that the culprit does not go away unpunished.

At the same time, we would also like to request the General Manager of Central Railway and Western Railway Sunil Kumar Sood to ensure the safety of lady passengers in the night. 

We hope that the culprit would be arrested as early as possible.

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Mumabi Press Club letter to Chief Minister of Maharashtra

April 9, 2015

Shri Devendra Fadnavisji

Hon'ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Mantralaya/Vidhan Bhavan

Mumbai

Dear Sir,

This is to bring to your kind notice on safety of women at large and womenfolk travelling late night in local trains, BEST buses and cabs and autorickshaws. 

Recently, in Kalva, in Thane district, a lady journalist, Manisha Gurav was molested and her cellphone was taken away. This is not just the plight of a single lady journalist but also the ladies at large. 

We would like to highlight that in the past also lady journalists had suffered because of various issues. 

As far as railways are concerned, a late night visit to stations like Dadar, Kurla, Bandra, Andheri, Borivli, Thane and of course Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Central, Churchgate, would reveal what is happening there and in its periphery.

The Mumbai Police is stationed outside stations and the Government Railway Police inside it and often there are jurisdiction issues. You can see several people with dubious character loitering there posing serious threat to the common commuting public particularly ladies. 

In stations, taxis and autorickshaws refuse to ply and people often have to wait for BEST buses, compounding problems for ladies who are unaccompanied. No woman in the night would dare to use the Bandra skywalk. 

Sir, if we are to narrate our schedule - most of us often work for late hours and hence our problems are much more. 

We seek an audience with you so that we can discuss this in detail and come out with some concrete solutions.

The press fraternity has lot of expectations from you and we are sure you would succeed in fulfilling these. 

With regards, 

Rajesh Mascarenhas

Secretary

Mumbai Press Club