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Bombay High Court seeks sanction for additional RPF posts

The Bombay High Court today issued a notice to Railway Board, New Delhi, asking it what decision it has taken on a proposal sent by the Central Railway.

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The Bombay High Court today issued a notice to Railway Board, New Delhi, asking it what decision it has taken on a proposal sent by the Central Railway, seeking sanction of over 2,600 additional posts for the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Ranjana Desai was hearing a suo-moto (on their own) PIL, based on a newspaper report which alleged that the Government Railway Police (GRP) had refused to register the complaint of a 25-year-old woman, who was molested in a local train in the wee hours of June 19.

An affidavit filed by Anil Sharma, Inspector General and Security Commissioner of RPF, stated that a proposal for creation of 2,638 posts was forwarded to the Railway Board in September 2010 is still pending. The board had sanctioned only 225 posts.

"The proposal for 2,638 posts includes 1,632 posts for Mumbai division which would look after security of lady commuters in trains. At present 1,185 posts are lying vacant in RPF for which recruitment is on," the affidavit said.

The bench, while issuing notice to the railway board, has sought its reply on the pending proposal by September 16. The court has also directed both RPF and GRP to advertise their helpline numbers not only in compartments but also in newspapers and channels.

According to the affidavit filed by deputy secretary S R Chavan of Home department, 232 policemen are deployed in the ladies compartment in the night for security and an additional 100 officials are required to be recruited.

"A proposal to sanction 2,648 additional posts was sought out of which 100 has been sanctioned. A suggestion has also been made to deploy Home Guards in day time for security which is under consideration," Government pleader Rajesh Behere told the court.

He further said that CCTVs would be put up in few major stations to which the Chief Justice remarked, "Having CCTVs is fine but there should also be a person monitoring the footage round the clock."

The incident occurred when the victim had boarded the general compartment of a train at Nerul station in Navi Mumbai when she was allegedly molested by an unidentified person.

The woman managed to get down at the next station, Juinagar.

She then travelled to Thane and reported the matter to GRP personnel who asked her whether she had been robbed or raped, to which she replied in the negative. Then they allegedly asked her as why she wanted to lodge a complaint.

The victim approached Vashi police station two days later which registered a complaint against the unidentified accused on the basis of her statement.

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