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Woman beaten, thrown off bus in Bangalore

Bus conductor assaults, humiliates commuter for asking if the ticket was right.

Bangalore: Bangalore's commuters have never had much faith in its autorickshaw drivers, known to extort money and harass passengers. But BMTC bus drivers and conductors too?

On Route 201, a 23-year-old soft skills trainer, Andrea Anthony was on Friday beaten up and pushed off the Volvo bus by a BMTC conductor after she threatened to complain about his rude behaviour to the police and the BMTC authorities.
The provocation? Asking bus conductor, Venkataiah, whether he had given her the right ticket! The government employee was rude, slapped her around, and to compound it all, pushed her off the bus!
Anthony, who was on her way to Madiwala from BTM layout at 10.30 am in the morning says the bus driver was equally complicit in ejecting her from the bus. Her co-passengers didn’t lift a finger either!
Andrea , who boarded the Volvo bus at around 10:30 am on Friday from BTM Layout was on her way to work in Madiwala, when the fracas with the conductor, Venkatiah, started.
It all reportedly began when she asked him if the ticket he had issued her was the right one. In response, he allegedly asked her to shut up.
An angry Andrea then threatened to call the cops on her mobile, but claims the conductor pushed the phone away from her ear. When she retaliated , he allegedly hit her on her head a couple of times and pushed her out of the bus. The tussle has left her with a swollen face and a cut lip.
“I felt humiliated at this treatment by a public servant. It all happened in three to five minutes and the conductor got away scot-free after manhandling me,” an upset Andrea told the Deccan Chronicle.
But her torment had not ended as Andrea received a bigger shock on going to the police after being treated for her injuries at the St. John’s Hospital. She found on reaching there that the bus conductor had beaten her to it and already lodged a complaint accusing her of assaulting him while he was discharging his duties.
The police is now inquiring into the incident to figure out who was at fault and has summoned both Andrea and the conductor for questioning on Tuesday.
For Andrea the incident has come as a double blow as she was on her way to attend the final session of a training programme that would have got her a trainer’s certificate. Being in no frame of mind to give her presentation , she is hoping she will get a second shot at it.

( Source : dc )
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