Title - Women passengers at the mercy of drunkards

The recent incidents of misbehaviour towards women on trains call for strict enforcement of railway rules among the passengers. But the drive undertaken by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Railway Police against drunken passengers and people creating nuisance on the trains seems to have dried up after it was started two months ago.According to the data available with ‘City Express’ 46 persons were booked by the RPF and Railway Police from Ernakulam South and North railway stations in the last two months for consuming alcohol. Of these 28 cases were registered with the Railway Police and 18 with Railway Protection Force. There were eight major cases and 38 petty cases registered for creating public nuisance after consuming liquor.A Railway Police official told ‘City Express’  that the majority of the cases against  consuming alcohol were registered in the initial stages. “Now we conduct the drive only once or twice a week. We have received order to book only those drunken persons who create nuisance on train. So the checking is not regular,” railway police said.The security agency also finds it hard to carry out such a drive in a full-fledged manner.“One of the major problems we face is shortage of officials. We are short of policemen to conduct security checks on trains. Besides, there was order from the higher officials that people travelling with their family should be spared from the drive. So mainly people who consume alcohol and create nuisance are booked,” a Railway Police official said.

The police can charge petty case under which  the drunken person creating nuisance will have to a pay fine up to Rs 10,000 or undergo jail sentence depending on the incident.

“Most often we charge a fine of Rs 4000. On Monday one person was prosecuted with 45 days’ imprisonment for misbehaving with women on a train bound to Thiruvananthapuram,” official added.