Couple jump from Dayodaya Express near Damoh, injured; toddler left on train found safe at Katni

A couple jumped from the moving Dayodaya Express with a child near Bandakpur railway station on the Damoh-Katni route at about 6 am on Saturday. The husband, the wife and their two-and-a-half-year-old daughter were seriously injured. Their other daughter, aged two, stayed behind on the train.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) reached the spot on being informed. The three injured were taken to the district hospital in a 108 ambulance. They were identified as Bhagirath Adivasi (29), a resident of Aaron in Guna district, his wife Savita Adivasi (22) and their daughter.

Katni RPF was then told that a girl was sitting alone in a general coach of the train. At about 8:30 am, Katni RPF safely brought her off the train at Katni railway station. Head constables Poonam Bhandari and Krishna Snehi Pandey took her to Damoh. Action is now under way to hand the child over to her maternal grandparents through the Child Welfare Committee.

Savita, who is admitted to the district hospital, said the family had reached Guna station from her parents' home in Ashoknagar with her husband and both daughters. They had to go to Aaron. At the station, they got into a dispute with some people. She alleged that the group began beating them without any reason.

A train then pulled in, and the family boarded it to save their lives. According to Savita, they did not know the train was headed towards Damoh.

Savita said that during the journey the people who had assaulted them, along with their associates, appeared again on the train. The family panicked and feared the accused would kill them. In that fear, they jumped from the moving train near Bandakpur with one child, while the other daughter remained on the train.

The injured said they do not know the people who assaulted them and have not been able to identify them.