Police get graffiti boys off walls after girl complains

The message read: ‘‘For sex, contact…. Tel….’’ Scrawled on the wall of the second class ladies’ compartment, the words nearly wrecked the life of a college student, who received hundreds of telephone calls asking if she would ‘oblige’.

On April 3, the 21-year-old decided to complain to the railway police commissioner’s office. The railway police jumped to the rescue and now have three squads of ten each on patrol. On April 18, Ramesh Rajman Patel (23), a final year student of engineering, was arrested at Dadar station while scribbling obscene messages on the walls of the second class ladies’ compartment.

On April 25, police caught Sanjay Rajaram Ghadge, also a college student, defacing the walls of the first class ladies’ compartment. Both Patel and Ghadge were charged under Section 166 (B) of the Indian Railway Act, 1989, and released on bail. But, one of the victims said she felt the punishment was not stringent enough. ‘‘Once a woman’s reputation is marred, it is very difficult to restore her image. Getting off on bail for Rs 1,000 is no deterrent.’’