Delhi metro axe attack: Enraged 65-year-old woman tries to attack fellow passengers with axe

A 65-year-old woman travelling on the Delhi metro was briefly detained by the CISF after she tried to attack a fellow passenger over an altercation over seats on Wednesday. The breach in security is being probed. 

An eyewitness, Renu Sukhija, said that the elderly woman boarded the women-only compartment of a metro going to Gurgaon from Qutab Minar metro station. 

"While looking for a seat, she spotted a 32-year-old woman sitting on a seat reserved for the elderly. She first asked the woman to vacate the seat for her, but when this was met with a flat refusal, the elderly woman slapped her," said Sukhija. Another eyewitness, Shreen Vaid, said that the woman was using abusive language and was being aggressive with others. While another passenger tried to calm her down and told her to sit down as many others left seats for the elderly woman, she responded with - how dare you touch me?" 

Sukhija, her friend Najiba Kazmi and another passenger, Reeti, intervened and told the woman to not fight inside the metro. The woman then took out an axe from her bag and tried to attack Kazmi. 

The woman was restrained by other passengers who handed her over to the CISF at the next station, Ghitorni. Women passengers overpowered her and took away the axe. Questions are being raised about how it failed to be noticed during security scanning. 

"If needed, action will be taken against the security officials who failed to prevent the entry of the accused woman with an axe in her bag," said a CISF officer.

"How could the accused woman enter the metro station and board the train with an axe in her bag? And why did the CISF let the woman go after we had handed her over to them?" Sukhija said.

The CISF, a paramilitary force under the Ministry of Home Affairs, is in charge of security of the metro, spanning three states in Delhi-NCR. Despite frisking, metal scanners and baggage scan, the woman was able to get her weapon past the security.