The Bombay High Court on Monday asked the Railways to reconsider its decision to not provide protection in overnight trains, after the Central Railways informed the court that escorts are only provided in trains which come under the vulnerable or highly vulnerable categories. “Trains involving night travel do not fall in vulnerable or highly vulnerable categories under which police protection is provided. The policy needs further re-look as this involves safety of large numbers of passengers traveling at night. Railways should reconsider their decision to not provide protection to trains that undertake overnight journeys and do not fall in the vulnerable or highly vulnerable categories,” said Justices A S Oka and A K Menon. The court has asked the Railways to file an affidavit by April 6, on their policy decision after reconsidering the matter. [related-post] The court was hearing a petition filed by one Bhavika Mehta, through her advocate Uday Warunjikar. Mehta had lost a leg while chasing a thief on an outstation train in 2012. According to the petition, no policeman was present on the train when the incident happened. Mehta had approached the court seeking compensation from the railways for the medical expenses she incurred after the accident. After the railways informed that the compensation amount has been released, the bench limited the prayers of Mehta’s petition to posting of policemen on trains. “In highly vulnerable trains, there are escorts present at all times while in vulnerable trains escorts are provided on random basis. But more instances of crimes are seen in relation to trains which are not classified,” said the court. Meanwhile, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner Central Railway, Mumbai Division on the instructions of Union of India filed an affidavit concerning the policy of security arrangements for passengers traveling by train involving night journey. On vulnerable and identified routes, 1300 trains on an average are escorted by Railway Protection Force daily, in addition to 2200 trains escorted by Government Railway Police (GRP) of different states daily, the affidavit states. “A three tier security mechanism prevails in Indian Railways which includes Government Railway Police (GRP), Railway Protection Force and District Police. Prevention and detection of crime in railway premises and on running trains are the responsibility of States through their GRPs,” it further states. Out of actual deployed strength of 55,820 RPF personnel, there are 1444 lady personnel in service out of which 759 are deployed for escorting trains, according to the affidavit. Other steps which have been proposed to ensure safety and security on trains include proposals of giving mobile phones to all train escorts and having an Integrated Security System consisting of electronic surveillance of vulnerable stations through CCTV, anti-sabotage checks which have been finalised. ruhi.bhasin@expressindia.com
