NEW DELHI – Showing courage and presence of mind, a 23-year-old actressstood up to a man who she says tried to molest her on a train and held onto the accused till help finally arrived. The incident happened in theearly hours of today in two-tier air-conditioned coach of the MaveliExpress that runs between Mangaluru Central and Thiruvananthapuram.

Sanusha Santosh, who has acted in South Indian movies, told NDTV that shewas shocked to have opened her eyes and found a man rubbing his handagainst her lips. Ms Santosh had boarded the train at Kannur; had an upperberth and was sleeping.

“I opened my eyes as I felt something against my lips. I was shocked to seea man’s hand. I held on to his hand and twisted his fingers. I triedreaching out to a person in the berth below me for help but he didn’tbother. I was shouting but no one cared to respond. This happened around1.10 am. Just two people, scriptwriter Unni and another passenger, Renjith,came forward to help,” she said.

As the two men went to look for the TTE or the Train Ticket Examiner, MsSantosh says she didn’t allow the alleged molester to move. “Once the TTEcame and got the information, he called the next railway station and therailway police were informed. When we reached Thrissur half an hour later,the railway police arrested him. I gave my statement and continued myjourney to Thiruvananthapuram in the same train,” Ms Santosh told NDTV.

Anto Bose, the alleged molester, who has been booked on charges ofoutraging the modesty of a woman, has been sent to custody for 14 days.