Railways must act immediately to stop rising crimes on trains
The robbery at knife point on the Jammu–delhi Duronto Express on Thursday raises serious questions about the safety of passengers and their baggage on board the Indian Railways and calls for urgent measures to avert such crimes.
Despite assurances by the Indian Railways to make rail journey safe for passengers, and their belongings through police escorts provided by the Government Railways Police or the Railway Protection Force, thefts of passenger belongings are on the rise.
On January 9, thieves looted cash worth Rs 25 lakhs, besides jewellery and mobile phones from the passengers of New Delhi-bhagalpur Express. They also thrashed several passengers for resisting the robbery. About ten days before that, five passengers on Durg-chhapra Sarnath Express were fleeced near Ballia, leaving three of the victims with serious head injuries.
In September, passengers of Ganga-kaveri Express travelling from Chhapra to Chennai were robbed and in the process 12 passengers were beaten up. Before that in July , a gang of thieves divested seven passengers of their baggage on ChandigarhPatliputra Superfast Express. In May, Hazrat Nizamuddin-chennai Central Garib Rath Express was forced to stop in the middle of a jungle in the Satpura hill range and passengers were dispossessed of their belongings. In March, 12-15 passengers of Hazrat Nizamuddin-ambala Passenger train were looted of their money , jewellery and mobile phones soon after it departed Hazarat Nizamuddin.
In April 2017, robbers had deployed a similar modus operandi as they did in the case of Jammu-delhi Duronto Express. The train in that case — New Delhi-patna Rajdhani Exprss — was stopped by tampering with the signaling system and 20 passengers were robbed. The thieves apparently entered the train through the small space around the vestibule and opened the doors of the coaches . In fact the Government Railway Police, which subsequently arrested four of the culprits, had revealed that they had deployed this method elsewhere too.
For several years now, the railway ministry is promising adequate measures to put stop to such crime on running trains, but obviously such pledges have remained only on paper. In fact after every such robbery, the victims complain of the absence of any police force. In many cases, they complain that the doors and the vestibules of the coaches were not even secured as required by the Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) and the coach attendant.
In fact, in many cases of theft that have come up before the consumer courts, the railways have been chastised for the negligence of the railway staff in failing to prevent unauthorized persons from entering the coaches and also for their failure to come to the assistance of victims.
It’s not as if the railways is unaware of the increasing number of crimes on board the Indian Railways. According to the statistical data put out by the Railways, there were as many as 17,415 cases of theft of passenger baggage on trains during the first half of 2018 (January to June). There were 287 robberies, 12 cases of dacoity, 103 cases of drugging, 21 murders, eight rapes and 185 cases of crime against women (other than rape) during this period.
In 2017, there were 33,568 cases of theft of passenger baggage, 793 cases of robbery, 34 dacoities, 256 cases of drugging, 24 murders, eight rapes and and 334 cases of crime against women. In fact theft of passenger baggage on trains has shown an increasing trend — from 14,301 cases in 2014, it went up to 22,106 in 2016 and 33,568 in 2017. And there were 17,415 cases in the first half of 2018, according to the railway data.
The railways need to take immediate measures to prevent crimes on trains and ensure the safety of passengers and their belongings.