Title - Passengers can lodge FIRs in trains soon

PATNA: Railways is working on a comprehensive plan to check crime on wheels by introducing a single security system to replace GRP and RPF personnel in all its 17 zones and make provisions for passengers to lodge complaints on board. The provision of lodging FIR on board has been introduced in a few selected trains in southern railways.Railways intends to empower the mobile police to lodge FIR in train itself and to decide later about the jurisdiction in order to pursue the case accordingly, a railways security official said.According to a Railway Board official, railways is fed up with complaints of growing incidents of crime, especially in the crime-prone zones. Complaints about dacoity, loot, snatching and luggage-lifting are the most common across the county. What most passengers grumble about is that cases are not even brought to the knowledge of railway authorities.The official said there were still several trains running without any police escort. Even the police personnel escorting the trains have no power to lodge an FIR. In case of any mishap or incident of crime during journey, passengers have to forcibly stop the train at the next station to lodge an FIR. Sometimes cases are not registered because of the jurisdiction problem, he said.It happens in the cases of robbing passengers after giving intoxicants to them. Such cases are hardly registered for want of proper communication, he said.