RPF staff get booklets on how to behave with commuters

RPF staff get booklets on how to behave with commuters

Mumbai: Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel can no longer claim ignorance of legal provisions or the rights of accused. Staffers at chowkies on the Central line have been given pocket-sized booklets (see box) on how to behave with commuters and their duties, to sensitize the force.

At least 396 RPF personnel from Central Railway have been chargesheeted since 2012, of which 92% have been punished. Some were chargesheeted on the basis of commuters' complaints. The Bombay high court had taken suo motu notice of a PIL in 2011, after a 25-year-old woman was molested in a Harbour local at Nerul, and was snubbed when she approached RPF personnel for help in Thane.

The booklet lists how RPF staffers must keep tabs on ladies coaches, make travellers aware of helplines and get information on any untoward incident. There are also instructions on how to tackle runaway or abandoned children.

The booklet lists the rights of an accused, such as getting a medical examination done every 48 hours, informing his family members about the arrest, informing the control room within 12 hours of arrest and producing the accused before a magistrate within 24 hours of arrest. This is relevant as the Government Railway Police (GRP) in Wadala had been accused of custodial torture and murder earlier this year.

"The booklet contains provisions of the Railway Act, whether offences are bailable or non-bailable, and prison terms or penalties. It has instructions for escorting personnel on long-distance trains and guides them on how to react in an emergency. We wanted to make it comprehensive," said Alok Bohra, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF (CR).

A footnote forbids staffers from "chatting needlessly on phones" and hanging around in groups while on duty.

Activists said copies of the booklets must be given to commuters too, so they know their rights and safety precautions to be taken while travelling.

TIMES VIEW 

Telling personnel about the rights of passengers, even those who may have broken the law, is a step in the right direction. It would be a good idea to replicate this at Mumbai's local and railway police stations. But this is only a start; it would work better if this is followed by a mass sensitisation drive of all personnel who interact with people as well as making them aware of the penal measures they face if they overstep their authority.

Source : TOI.