Woman battling for life in train rape case dead

Thrissur (Ker), Feb 6 (PTI) A 23-year-old woman, who wasallegedly raped in a moving train and suspected to have beenthrown out, today died in hospital here after battling forlife for six days.

Though there had been slight improvement in her conditionsince yesterday, the situation took a turn for the worse todayand she breathed her last this afternoon, hospital sourcessaid.

According to police, the woman was found lying unconsciouswith serious head injuries on the tracks between VallatholNagar and Shornur Railway station late in the evening onFebruary 1.

The man who allegedly pushed her down from the the women''scompartment of Ernakulam-Shonur passenger train, Govindaswamy,was arrested two days back.

Women''s rights activists, social workers and leaders ofpolitical parties have expressed shock at the harrowingexperience she had undergone and expressed profound sorrow ather death.

The woman, employed in a private firm in Kochi, wasreturning home for a marriage proposal on that day in theErnakulam-Shornur passenger train when the incident tookplace. The man entered the near empty compartment as the trainleft the station at Vallatholnagar, they said.

The guard informed Railway police of a woman having fallenfrom the train after which a search was conducted and she wasfound lying unconscious in a pool of blood with multipleinjuries 400 metres away from Vallathol Nagar station.

She was taken to Thrissur Medical College Hospital and wasin a critical condition since then, with severe head injuries,fractured skull and bleeding in the brain.

The woman''s compartment is usually almost empty after thetrain leaves Thrissur.