Witnessed something disturbing at Salem railway station.

Today at around 12:30 AM, my mother and I (35F) were waiting at Salem railway station for our train. There was a woman sleeping on the adjacent bench.

Out of nowhere, a man came and started hitting her and verbally abusing her. She looked older than him, maybe his mother or relative, not sure. He was very aggressive and intimidating.

There was a police officer nearby. The woman was clearly scared. She even told the officer that if she goes with him, he will hit her. But the officer didn’t seem to take it seriously and just told the man to take her with him.

I did not intervene. I just watched as a mute spectator. I feel terrible about it now.

Part of me knows I was scared. I was with my mother. The guy looked unpredictable. But another part of me keeps thinking I should have done something, raised my voice, recorded the incident, anything.

This also brought back some personal memories of growing up around an abusive environment, which made it even harder to process in that moment.

Before boarding the train, I did inform another police officer and asked him to check on the situation. But I don’t know if anything actually happened after that.

I keep wondering if she’s okay.