Title - Railway Protection Force steps up vigil on women safety

Chennai: It all started in December 2012, when a medical student was raped and murdered in a moving bus in Delhi. Since then, RPF has adopted a “no compromise” policy in monitoring women travellers’ safety aboard trains.

Special drives became regular and crackdown on male passengers illegally travelling in women’s coaches was intensified after the Delhi tragedy, admitted a senior RPF officer.

“The Delhi incident shook the whole country. We did not want any such incident reported in one of our trains. That was the trigger for the enforcement drives conducted since Dece­mber 2012,” a RPF inspector told DC.

No rule permits men to board women’s coaches, be it EMU or Express, after 9pm, emphasized senior divisional security commissioner S. R. Gandhi. Since January last, an understaffed RPF has ensured that each station conducted two surprise checks twice a week.

During the last one-week alone, 100 men were booked and fined for travelling in women’s coaches in EMUs between Nunga­mbakkam and Chro­mepet alone. Spouses and family members accompanying women passengers were being let off with a warning now.

Many women insist that one of their family members or friends be allowed to travel with them late evening. “Very few women travel late night. Will it be safe for office goers like me to travel alone in women’s coaches late?,” argued BPO employee Farzana Begum, a regular commuter between Tara­mani and Beach. 

Even  for the few minutes that the train halts at stations are unsafe and enough for window chain-snatchers  to target women in women’s coaches, complained stenographer Lavanya Chandrasekhar of Na­ng­­a­nallur, urging RPF to strengthen security. 

Complaints about drunk men harassing women passengers and frequent chain-snatching incidents had only dissuaded the personnel to get stringent on men boarding women’s coaches, RPF personnel justified.