By and large, passengers travelling by railways are aware that Indian railways are crime prone. Criminals have a bagful of methods to execute their criminal intentions. From what one learns from police sources, be it the Railway Protection Force or the State Police Crime Branch and other agencies, the criminals committing crimes like theft, assault, chain snatching etc. in running trains have created mafia and they have raised networks in their respective sectors.
Theft of baggage in railways has increased in comparison to previous years though the rate of drugging the passengers during their journey has come down. Drugging has come down for the reason that passengers are become more cautious of consuming unknown eatables from the hands of unknown persons. It is not because of any extraordinary vigil mounted by the RPF. Railway Minister has given facts and figures of various forms of railway crimes and the picture he has painted is in no way re-assuring. It is a sad commentary on the social status of our nation and a blot on the name of Railway Protection Force. It brings to question the efficiency and efficacy of the force and the structure. The efficiency of the railway protection force will be gauged from how many cases of imminent theft have been stalled by them and how many criminals have been brought to the book.
Let us be clear about one thing. If the accountability of authorities charged with the responsibility of ensuring safety and security of passengers remains in shambles in which these happen to be at present, Indian Railways would be asking for defamation all over the world. The worst part of this criminology is that processing of a case against an alleged criminal is slow, ambiguous and uncertain. Such cases drag on in courts of law for years at end. Much water flows down the river during the long investigations. One thing is sure the investigating authorities have fair chance of greasing their palms and then dragging the matter on till all stakeholders lose interest. It is almost impossible to recover even a single item stolen from the passengers in a running train. The thieves and burglars are noted criminals and ordinary passengers, especially women and older people are unable to resist the criminals tying to snatch their baggage.
We all travel in trains and there is no need to say that the presence of Railway Protection Force is seldom visible in the bogies. If at all a railway policemen happens to be moving in the bogey he just takes quick steps from end to end of the passage in the bogey not even casting a passing glance at the passengers. More often than not the police man makes small sitting space at the edge of a lower berth just to steal a nap or two and kill the time.
The statistics provided by the Railway Minister amply suggest that the existing system of providing security to the passengers is abysmally out of date and meaningless. Knowing that nothing is going to come out of it, people who have suffered theft of their baggage hesitate to report the theft to the police. They know it will be an exercise in futility. Entire Railway Protection concept needs to be overhauled and redrawn in accordance with the new methodology of stealing and intimidating passengers is carried out with the clear intention of looting their baggage and other belongings.
Equally important is the follow up action either by the police or the law enforcing authorities when a case of railway crime is formally processed. In the first place, such cases linger on for decades and no decision is taken, leave aside the punishment or imprisonment that would be the natural justice. We are told that there is inadequacy of legal provisions and more stringent laws should be enacted to deal with the criminals. We wonder how many more laws we need. How come the existing laws are inadequate? That, of course, is not the real problem. The real problem is inability of the authorities to implement the law with all intents and efforts. When a person involved in a railway crime finds that his case will continue for decades at end there is the likelihood that he will escape scot free. What happens is that others follow the example and in this way crime proliferates. Laws not implemented mean abuse of law and cheating the people. This culture must change and the Railways Minister will have to come out with a comprehensive plan of reformed protection laws. Under the constitution, the Minister has to provide security to the person and property of the passenger.
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