Kallada driver ‘gropes’ woman passenger, held
The incident happened around 1.30 a.m. when the bus, which was going from Mangalore to Kollam, reached Kozhikode.
MALAPPURAM: A reserve driver of Kallada tourist bus, who harassed a woman passenger in the wee hours of Thursday, was arrested by the Thenjippalam police. The bus was also taken into custody.
The incident happened around 1.30 a.m. when the bus, which was going from Mangalore to Kollam, reached Kozhikode. The accused, Johnson Joseph, 39, of Puthupally, Kottayam, who was in a drunken state, groped the woman, a native of Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu. When she cried aloud, the other passengers came to her help and alerted the police.
Though the police team reached Calicut University premises, the bus had left the point by then. Later, the passengers asked the crew to stop the bus at Thenjippalam police station. The woman, a housewife, also insisted on submitting a complaint at the police station.
The police arranged another sleeper bus for the passengers.
The driver, who was produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court, Parappanangadi, was remanded in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, the DYFI organised a protest march to the office of Kallada at Palayam, Kozhikode.
The Kallada Motors was in the news recently over the harassment meted out to the passengers by the crew in Ernakulam.