An attack on a Dhaka-bound train from Narayanganj left three people, including the country’s first female train driver Salma Khatun, injured on Friday night. The incident took place at Gendaria Railway Station when a group of unruly youths vandalized the train with cricket bats and threw stones, shattering the engine’s window.
According to Salma Khatun’s account posted on social media, the attackers began striking the engine window with bats while the train was halted at Gendaria. When she and her colleagues tried to inquire about the reason, the assailants became more violent and continued to hit the train before pelting it with stones. The broken glass caused injuries to Salma and two other railway staff members inside the engine.
Salma wrote that she later learned a robber had allegedly boarded her train’s engine earlier, snatched a mobile phone from a youth nearby, and climbed back onto the engine—prompting the group’s retaliation. “Why did the robbers on the engine beat us? This is the situation of me and our country,” she wrote.
Gendaria Railway Station Master Alamgir Hossain said no official complaint had been filed, though he heard about the incident from others. Mizanur Rahman, sub-inspector at the Narayanganj Railway Police Outpost, said efforts are underway in coordination with Kamalapur Railway Police Station to identify the youths involved.
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