The Central Railway Protection Force (RPF) has registered eight cases of molestation this year on local trains. Two cases have been registered in Thane and two at Kalyan station up till now. Last year 20 molestation cases were registered however, in this year up till now the Central Railway has already registered 17 molestation cases. Out of the 17 cases, 13 were detected and the accused were arrested.
The surprising increase in molestation cases on local trains have alerted the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the RPF officials who have now decided to have extra patrolling of the women compartment.
An GRP official said, “With the increase in the molestation cases we are planning to have additional officials patrolling the local trains specially after the evening peak hours. Maximum number of cases have been detected post the peak hour.”
Further the RPF officials have raised concerns over Parel station where they state that maximum number of molestation incidents happen because of the over crowding at the Parel Foot Over Bridge (FOB). The concerns rise as the molesters manage to escape in the crowd and are never caught. Last year two molestation cases were registered at Parel station and none could be detected.
Sachin Bhalode, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, Central Railway, said, “There are two RPF officials deployed near the Parel Foot Over Bridge (FOB) during the morning and the evening peak hours in order to manage the crowd and make sure that the crowd disperses quickly.”