After the happy end of the Rajdhani Express hold-up by suspected Moists and their supporters on October 27 afternoon, the CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury was quick to blame Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for the incident claiming that the Railway Minister have been in touch with the Maoists for long.
While not commenting on this allegation, one would like to ask Yechury if he is unaware of the fact that according to the Constitution of India, Seventh Schedule, List II-State List, entries one and two, law and order is a State subject.
So, when suspected Maoists held-up the 2444A Bhubaneshwar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Tatanagar, at the Banstola railway station near Jhargram in West Bengal, the onus for this lapse falls squarely on the shoulders of the CPI(M) which is in power in that State for 32 years or so.
But these are petty matters compared to the larger issue involved; hasn’t this single incident proved if proof was necessary, that rail travel is extremely unsafe for passengers because there really is no protection against any violent groups of people or even an individual, from stopping all services and kill and loot passengers at will. It is a misconception that there is a force called the Railway Protection Force (RPF) which can protect the lives of passengers in such events.
The RPF is NOT a police force, its job is to protect railway property and not the lives of passengers. Although its stature had improved since 1987 when the organisation was recognised as an Armed Force of the Union of India, the fact remains that it does not have Police power, which means power to kill in course of exigencies. There was a case when a RPF constable who had fired to kill a wagon breaker or some such person, was charged with manslaughter under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
Then who looks after the security of passengers in a train. The name of the Police force that does is extremely misleading. It is called the Government Railway Police (GRP) giving an impression that it is a Police force employed by the Centre. Wrong. The GRP is a State level Police organisation and its jurisdiction ends as soon as a train in motion crosses the State boundaries.
There are trains which run non-stop across the states like most of the Rajdhani Express trains. A Rajdhani leaving New Delhi for Chennai for example stops at Jhansi first. It crosses the Union Territory of Delhi , then Haryana, then Uttar Pradesh, then Madhya Pradesh and then again Uttar Pradesh before stopping at Jhansi in UP. What is the arrangements for the security of passengers when this train crosses so many states? This question required an answer from the Railways and from the Union Home Ministry too.
One humble suggestion, which will require an amendment to the Constitution, can be establishment of a federal Police force like the BSF, CISF, and the like to be posted exclusively on railway trains passing through more than one State in order to ensure proper security of passengers.
Meanwhile, one would like to suggest to both Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee to end their mutual disliking and come together in order to ensure safety of railway passengers.
(The writer can be contacted at arabinda.ghose@gmail)
