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Physically challenged national level athlete and fencing champion, Hoshiyar Singh, died on Wednesday night after being allegedly thrown off a running train by the railway police in Uttar Pradesh.
Singh was returning from Mathura to his hometown, Kasganj, when the incident is reported to have taken place. He is said to have boarded the general coach after seating his mother and wife in the women-only coach. Later, Singh reportedly came to the women’s coach to check on his ailing wife. The athlete was then allegedly asked to pay a fine of Rs 200 by Government Railway Police (GRP) for boarding the women-only coach. When he refused to do so, the policemen allegedly assaulted him and threw him off the train.
NDTV.com quoted Singh’s wife as saying: “They pushed my husband for money. He was in the ladies coach with me. Police came and asked him what he was doing in the ladies coach. I begged them to let him talk to me. They pushed him and he got stuck. I hope they are punished.”
The Times of India quoted Munesh Kumar Singh, a constable with Delhi Police and Hoshiyar Singh’s elder brother, as saying: “Hoshiyar had alighted at the Sikandra Rao station to meet his wife. That was when two GRP constables stopped him from entering the women’s coach. “He pleaded that his wife was unwell, but they would not listen. They asked for Rs 200.”
Other passengers pulled the chain and stopped the train. Some people also called the police, who lodged a first information report against two GRP constables, Rajesh and Ramvilas, and the manager of the ticket counter at the Sikandra Rao railway station, Virenda Kumar.
The Times of India also reported that Senior Superintedent of Police (GRP) Gopeshnath Khanna said his men were not to blame. Singh had alighted to get his water bottle filled at the station, and as the train began to move, he ran to get on to the train and was killed in the effort, he said.
Singh had won a bronze medal in an under-17 championship in Kerela in 2005.
In 2011, another national-level athlete, volleyball player Arunima Singh, was thrown off a moving train by the Railway Police. She had lost her right leg in the incident.
