Girl, 5, thrown from Indian train in seat dispute

A five-year-old girl was thrown out of a moving train in Mumbai during an argument between her family and another passenger over sharing a seat, police said on Wednesday. The girl suffered head injuries when she landed on the tracks in an eastern suburb of the city after the train had left the main Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

"A scuffle broke out over seating and the little girl was thrown out of the door. It happened in just a few seconds," Mumbai railway police chief Tukaram Chavan said. "She's receiving treatment and recovering. She was very lucky not to have been hit by another train." Chavan added that 19-year-old Chhotu Samar Mandal had been arrested. Other passengers in the crowded train had beaten him up after the incident.



"Had I known that the man was a maniac, I would have given him the seat instead of putting my daughter's life in danger," the girl's father said. "My wife, my brother and I ran after him but before we could stop him, he flung my daughter out of the train. My mind stopped working and I was numb. My brother acted quickly and pulled the (emergency) chain."

Mumbai's suburban trains carry an estimated seven million people every day and are a lifeline in an overcrowded city with traffic-clogged, potholed roads. Train doors are normally open to the elements to combat high temperatures and humidity, with many travellers also hanging out of carriages or perching between them. In 2008, an average of 17 people died every day on Mumbai's suburban rail network, according to government figures. Most deaths were trespassers on the tracks.