The brutal beating of a female bus conductor in Maharashtra’s Thane district last week was a rare case, but milder molestation is a regular part of life for women who work on State Transport vehicles. Harassment on the job is so routine for women bus conductors, most of them tend to just shrug it off and get on with the job. But for the past few days, women conductors working in the Maharashtra’s State Transport buses have been visibly tense and scared, both on and off duty. On June 4, one of their colleagues was brutally beaten by a male passenger on a bus in Dombivli, a suburb near Mumbai, after she reprimanded him for boarding from the front door instead of from the back one and hurling abuses at the driver. The man reportedly pulled the conductor by her feet, dragged her off the bus, tore off her clothes and rained blows and kicks on her, while other passengers watched without intervening. Another woman conductor from a passing bus was also beaten when she tried to help. The victim is now recuperating in a local hospital, even as the man – charged with assault and outraging the modesty of a woman – is out on bail. The incident has made other women conductors in the state acutely conscious of the daily abuse they had been taking for granted in a profession that remains male-dominated.

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