HC raps Railways for lax attitude towards women's safety

Expressing concern over the "lukewarm" attitude of Railways towards the safety of women passengers, Kerala High Court today directed that two armed women guards be put on duty in ladies coaches of trains.

Railways should provide adequate safety to women passengers, especially those travelling in ladies coach, a division bench comprising justices T Ramachandran Nair and B Kemal Pasha said while upholding the death sentence of Govindachamy, who pushed 23-year-old Saumya out of a running train, brutally raped and murdered her on February 1, 2008.

The judges also made a special mention of the attitude of fellow passengers, especially women, in public transport systems.

"The lethargic, lukewarm attitude, the insensitivity to respond and selfishness to be non-responsive from the part of fellow passengers of a running train to extend a helping hand to lift a girl from danger has resulted in a grave tragedy as the one in the case," they said.

The attitude of certain passengers who tried to dissuade those who were willing to help was also mentioned by the judges.

"How criminal is the action of the community, who even dissuade those willing to respond to such evils. It is a pity that the cries of the girl died down in the compartment as wild cries," they said.

Stressing on the need for adequate sensitisation programmes to make the public aware as to how to rise to the occasion and act in such cases, the court said inaction of other passengers in other compartments sounded more than the brutality staged by the "blood-thirsty sex pervert".

83 witnesses were examined from the prosecution side in the case.