Sanjeev Shivadekar TNN
Mumbai: Governor K Sankaranarayanan summoned top officers of the two railway security agencies—Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force—to Raj Bhavan on Tuesday, to know what was being done to curb crime on trains, especially to make trains safer for women.
Earlier this month, American national Michelle Marks was slashed and robbed in the first-class compartment of a running Western Railway local. A few weeks before that, a nurse was molested in a train at Mahalaxmi.
Raj Bhavan sources said the governor intends to write to the railway minister, asking him to immediately fill vacant positions in the RPF.
The Governor also exhorted the RPF to assist the GRP in providing night escorts in women’s coaches. Other instructions given to the two security forces were to create an atmosphere of safety on railway platforms and coaches so that commuters feel secure, besides taking preventive measures to free railway premises of petty criminals and beggars.
The Governor called the meeting after receiving a memorandum from a group of journalists, which sought safety measures in the wake of the Shakti Mills gangrape and the attack on Marks. Inspector-general Mahim Swami of the RPF (WR) said a crackdown on men travelling illegally in women’s compartments will start from Wednesday. “The operation will comprise a 100-member team and will be supervised by 15 inspectors and sub-inspectors. It will be conducted from late evening to early morning,” Swami told TOI.
The GRP is yet to trace Marks’ stolen iPhone. On Monday, the GRP arrested a drug addict, Rajkumar Tiwari, for the attack, who claimed he sold the phone to a drug peddler, Mehrunnisa. She in turn claimed it was stolen from a plastic bag in which she kept drugs at home. On Tuesday, Mehrunnisa was also arrested.
June 2011 | A 25-year-old woman was molested in a local at Nerul at 5.10am. She ran to another coach at the next station. On reaching Thane, she approached RPF personnel, who allegedly made light of the issue. The HC took up a suo motu PIL on women’s safety
April 2013 | Auditorium manager Vinay Parab was robbed at knifepoint in the firstclass compartment of a local at Mumbai Central at 12.45am. He claimed the GRP took time to register his complaint
May 2013 | Delhi resident Preeti Rathi was attacked with acid as she got off the Garib Rath at Bandra Terminus. GRP arrested a youth but couldn’t get sufficient evidence against him. A month later, Rathi succumbed to her injuries
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