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Maharashtra not safe for railway commuters by eabhi200k on 27 June, 2013 - 08:00 PM
avatar eabhi200k Maharashtra not safe for railway commuters on 27 June, 2013 - 08:00 PM

With highest number of cases registered in 2012, Maharashtra topped the list of most unsafe states for railway commuters in the country.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 4,062 cases were registered by the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Maharashtra in 2012.

While Uttar Pradesh stood second with 2,782 cases, Bihar secured the third position with 2,222 cases.

The GRP in Tripura, meanwhile, registered only 10 cases last year, the lowest in the country.

Of the 4,062 cases registered in Maharashtra, 3,070 were of thefts.

The state’s contribution to the thefts in the country last year was 21.5%.

According to the police, they are taking steps to curb incidents of thefts on trains.

In October 2012, the Kurla GRP had arrested a former bar dancer who took to thefts and earned enough to send one of her daughters to a Panchganibased boarding school.

Yasmin Shaikh, 26,the accused, was booked in 18 cases in the past.

“The railway police personnel constantly patrol railway stations and local trains. Closed circuit television cameras, too, have been put up, making it difficult for criminals to escape,” said a senior official from the Mumbai GRP, on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the statistics, 513 cases of robberies were registered with the Maharashtra GRP last year, apart from 88 cases of assault and seven cases of causing death due to negligence.

“Compared to 2011, there has been a 2.5% drop in the number of cases registered by the Maharashtra GRP in 2012. While 4,168 cases were registered in 2011, 4,062 cases were registered last year. The number was 3,896 in 2010,” said another official.

Prabhat Kumar, commissioner for GRP Mumbai, said, “Despite witnessing some serious incidents of crime against women in the recent past, the railway authorities are not taking enough measures.”

“A proposal of deploying 100 women police constables needs urgent approval from the railway authorities, but has been pending with them since almost a year,” said Kumar.