Passengers' safety, security in trains: SC seeks Govt's reply

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and Ministry of Railways to respond to a plea seeking directions to ensure security of passengers travelling in trains and re-evaluate the safety measures.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud issued notices on the plea which has alleged that security measures in trains were dismal and the government has not yet installed CCTV cameras inside the train compartments for the safety of passengers.

The petition has also sought a CBI investigation in a case in which a 30-year-old engineer was killed after being allegedly beaten up and thrown out of a moving train by some unidentified officials of railway protection force (RPF) in Uttar Pradesh in August this year.
 

The plea, filed by the widow of deceased Rahul Singh, has claimed that they were travelling from Delhi to Varanasi and her husband was thrown out of the train as he was recording on his mobile phone the alleged illegal act of RPF officials who were extorting money from the passengers.

The apex court has also issued notice to the CBI seeking its response on the plea within 10 weeks.

The petition, filed through advocate Sanjeev Kumar Singh, has said that Singh's body was found on the railway track near Jhansi and an advocate, who was travelling in the train and was an eye-witness to the incident, had tried to lodge an FIR against with the government railway police at Mahoba and Allahabad, but no case was registered.

Later, when the details of incident was tweeted on the official twitter handle of the Railway Minister, a case was lodged at GRP Allahabad but no accused has yet been arrested.

It claimed that a CBI probe in the case was needed for a fair investigation as the accusations were directed against the local police.

Raising the issue of safety in trains, the petitioner has claimed that "security measures on Indian Railway trains are dismal and it is a common occurrence that after every incident the initial crucial time for investigation is lost on the issue of jurisdiction of security by investigative agencies."

The plea has also sought a direction to the government and the Railways to "ensure the safety of the passengers travelling by train and re-evaluate the safety measures".