‘Snoring’ passenger forced to stay awake during train journey

A commuter on a longdistance train was “punished” by a group of fellow passengers for snoring loudly and disturbing their sleep.

The incident took place on Thursday last week in a third AC coach of LTT-Darbhanga Pawan Express when passengers found the snoring of a fellow traveller too loud and decided not to let him sleep so that they could.

The passenger, identified as Ramchandra, was made to stay awake for about six hours after a heated argument broke out among the commuters.

Ganesh S Virha, chief ticket inspector of the Jabalpur division of the West Central Railway, confirmed the incident.

Virha, who boarded the train in Jabalpur, said Ramchandra, did not feel offended by the “punishment” given to him and therefore did not file any complaint.

“I learnt about the commotion when I took charge of the coach at Jabalpur around 5 am (on Thursday last). The train was a bit late and when I entered the coach, passengers briefed me about the heated argument that took place during the night journey. Ramchandra said he was persuaded by fellow passengers not to sleep for some time,” Virha said.

Ramchandra initially resisted the idea but later agreed to their proposal, he added.

“I sought to know whether the passenger (Ramchandra) wanted to lodge a complaint with the GRP if he felt victimised or offended, but he replied in the negative.

“In such cases, we take the help of the RPF or the GRP, but thankfully here the matter was sorted out amicably. When I revisited the coach later I found all had become friends,” he said.

A senior railway official said snoring in trains is a common problem and all zones regularly get complaints from passengers.

MUMBAI: