CHENNAI: Ramani V, 22, who was getting back home from Guindy to Egmore, got into the ladies compartment of a suburban train at around 9 pm since she thought it would be safer. But her journey was a nightmare as a man in an inebriated condition entered the ladies coach and misbehaved with her.
It was only after three fellow passengers intervened, the man disembarked from the coach at the next station. Wonder, what were the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel who were supposed to guard the coaches doing? As in most cases, they were missing.
Ramani was lucky since she had support from her fellow passengers and the intruder was neutralised. “What would have happened if the woman was alone in the compartment? Why is that women’s safety is being ignored in suburban trains?” an agitated Ramani asked.
Women passengers, who regularly commute in suburban trains during night hours, allege RPF personnel don’t guard trains in the night and women’s safety is being compromised. They say, men, mostly in an inebriated condition, enter the ladies compartment and start misbehaving with them on the pretext of being drunk.
“As the ladies compartments are meant only for women, they are considered much safer than others. But sometimes, miscreants and vendors create problems and misbehave. Especially, during night hours it is very unsafe to travel in ladies compartment with no police or RPF for help,” says Gayathri S, a regular passenger.
A senior official from RPF, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that RPF men are assigned the duty to guard ladies compartments, but due to lack of staff currently only two RPF personnel are assigned duty in each local train, one in first and another in the last ladies compartment.
Radhika G, who is a regular in suburban trains, scoffs at the RPF’s logic of two personnel for a train. “What sense is it, if RPF guards only first and last compartments? If I am travelling in the other ladies compartment, what do I do?
One cannot immediately run to the first compartment to seek help, as the compartments are separated and one cannot risk their life in a running train,” she says.
When prodded about the lapse, Ramesh S, an RPF personnel at Park railway station, said, “Being only two of us in a train, we can monitor only nearby compartments and not all of them,” he said.
CCTV cameras inside compartment must
To ensure the safety of women passengers against harassment, CCTV surveillance cameras in the ladies compartments in suburban trains seem to be a necessity.
And Southern Railways has launched a pilot project to install such surveillance cameras inside ladies coaches.
According to RPF Senior Divisional Security officials, a pilot project on the introduction of CCTVs was undertaken on a train from MMC to Gummudipondi. The footage will be checked in case of incidents related to women harassment are reported.
Though no incident has been reported so far, railways will install CCTV cameras inside ladies’ compartments and at major suburban stations in Chennai Division. Railway officials say the installation of CCTVs inside compartments and at stations will be installed in phases.
Facing shortage of personnel: RPF
Railway Protection Force (RPF) has been vested with the responsibility of guarding the ladies compartments of suburban trains, but it seems that these duties end up only on paper. Though incidents of harassment against women in ladies compartments have increased, the personnel on the ground is witnessing a sharp decrease.
It is only after 9 pm that two RPF men guard the first and the last compartments, which is no way sufficient to guard all the compartments. A ladies special train has only 3 RPF personnel in a train, clearly revealing the lack of staff in RPF.
A senior official said that due to lack of enough staff to guard all ladies compartments, they are moving to other alternatives. “We already have the RPF helpline 182 and women helpline 1901 to help the ladies,” the official said. Though there are attempts by RPF to prevent incidents of miscreants misbehaving with passengers in ladies compartment, RPF helpline 182 gets around 60 calls in a month related to such issues in trains, this number has been increasing over the past few years.
“When we come across such situations, we need someone to help us deal with the issue right there. Helplines are just a secondary he-lp, and their help arrives very late, mostly when miscreants run away,” said Kavya M, a regular commuter.
RPF officials mentioned that introducing smartphone applications and installation of CCTVs are being planned to avoid such incidents. However, commuters hope that these plans will be executed soon to ensure complete safety of women on trains.
