Viral video: Woman holds up Mumbai local. Then, an officer’s unusual solution

A viral video shows a woman refusing to get off a crowded train coach (Image: _aamchi_mumbai_/Instagram)

A video going viral online shows a woman holding up the entire train by refusing to get off a crowded coach and allowing the automatic doors to slide shut. While the woman’s refusal to get off the Mumbai local in the face of persuasion and pleas was remarkable in itself, it was an official’s unique solution to the problem that left thousands of viewers amused.

Footage shared by an Instagram page called “Aamchi Mumbai” shows the woman standing at the door of a crowded coach in a Mumbai local train. Her position is such that the train’s doors are prevented from sliding shut. Police officers and a plainclothes official stand on the platform, requesting the woman to get off the train, but she refuses to heed their pleas.

With their pleas falling on deaf ears, one official comes up with an unusual solution. He requests the woman to get off the coach and guides her to the driver’s compartment, where she gets to sit next to the locomotive pilot – a position that few other train passengers can boast of having occupied.

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A post shared by आमची मुंबई (@_aamchi_mumbai_)

The person filming the video noted that other passengers ran late because of the woman’s refusal to adjust. While many viewers criticised the woman for holding up hundreds of other passengers, some were more sympathetic.

“She was rewarded for bad behaviour,” wrote one person. “She should be fined,” another said.

“Wow. She got a VIP seat. She should have been kicked out,” a third Instagram user opined.

Some came to the woman’s defence, pointing out that she had probably paid for an AC pass and had as much right to be on the train as other passengers. “Half the public doesn’t buy an AC train ticket. The ones who do don’t even get space to stand,” one user commented. “To be honest she isn’t wrong. But her method was wrong,” said another.