Eunuchs may be held under Preventive Detention laws

Hyderabad: To prevent transgenders pestering passengers in trains and at railway stations, especially between Warangal and Vijayawada, the Railway Protection Force has decided to recommend that the Government Railway Police take stringent action against repeat offenders by detaining them under the Preventive Detention Act. The railway police books transgenders who harass passengers under Sections 145 and 147 of the Railway Act, which allows either penalty or imprisonment as punishment. Section 145 relates to nuisance and 147 trespass.

RPF senior superintendent of police P.V.S. Shanta Ram said cases under these sections would lead to penalties ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000. “In case the accused fails to pay the penalty, he/she should face imprisonment from 2 months to 6 months,” he said. He said nearly 3,000 cases were registered on hijras for harassing passengers for money. “Sometimes groups of Hijras have even attacked passengers who refused to pay them,” he said. In certain incidents, the groups attacked and injured passengers. On March 27, 2014, a gang of hijras attacked five persons in Gorakhpur Express at Warangal and one passenger was severely injured.

On August 6, 2016, a group attacked a textile merchant from Uttar Pradesh,  Omprakash Jaiswal, at Kazipet. In a similar incident, a passenger was kicked out from a running train by hijras for refusing to give them money. Mr Shanta Ram said the railway police had held several reviews on the matter and decided to ask GRP to take stringent action as per IPC or other Acts like the one for preventive detention. “Soon after the Telangana state government appoints the Railway superintendent of police SCR, we will make recommendations,” he said. The post has bene vacant for six months.