MUMABI, October 27: Chief Minister Manohar Joshi today assured assistance to Jaybala Ashar, the 23-year-old student who valiantly resisted a mugger in a local train but lost both her legs after being flung out, and said security would be increased in women's compartments of local trains to avoid recurrence of such incidents.The Government Railway Police haven't been able to make any breakthrough in the case yet, though they have intensified the search for the youth who pushed Jaybala Ashar out of the ladies compartment of a Borivli-bound local on Monday. ``Our detection teams are on the job, and are even combing certain areas in the city. We hope to catch the culprit by tomorrow,'' said Superintendent of Police (GRP) S Ramachandran.
Meanwhile, Jaybala lies in the trauma ward of the B Y L Nair hospital, trying to piece her life together again. ``I know my future is ruined, but is there anything I can do about it now?'' she asks, her eyes brimming with refuse to flow down. She plans to complete hergraduation and then go in for a post graduate degree in commerce after her injuries heal. She has pinned her future on the railways, saying ``I hope they will give me a job, because no one else will.''
The 23-year-old girl shuddered as she recounted her tale. ``Even as I fought with the man, the three other women, whom I have not seen before, just sat there in a corner,'' she recalled. She held the three women equally responsible for her present state of affairs. After she fell on the tracks, she saw two men walking towards her, increasing her hopes of rescue. ``But they just looked at me and asked me to move aside otherwise I would get hit by another train again. After saying thus, they simply walked off!'' she said, her voice chocking in disbelief.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.