Train or tension: Maharashtra, Kerala and UP routes most unsafe for women; Know how to get immediate help in case of tampering in the journey

In the year 2007, there was a film ‘Jab We Met’ in which the main character of the film Geet travels alone at night. During this, she gets stuck at a station, where people look at her with strange eyes and she somehow avoids them. A dialogue from this film became very famous ‘A girl alone is like an open vault’. People heard this while eating popcorn in the cinema hall, but few people would have understood the seriousness of the matter.

Well this thing is from 13 years ago, but do you know that even now the train journey for a woman is no less than a battle. People in the train look at the girls traveling alone as if they were really an open safe. Some people ask dozens of questions after seeing the girl alone, while there are some people who do not leave any chance of molesting in the rush of the train.

The team of Bhaskar Woman interacted with the higher officials of Indian Railway Board on the issue of safety of women in Indian Railways. Read, in which state and rail route of the country women are most nervous about traveling alone…

Every day 53 lakh women travel in trains in India, 6 thousand women policemen do security
About 23 million people travel daily in Indian Railways, out of which 53 lakh are women passengers. The safety of passengers in railways is divided into two parts. Rajeev Jain, Additional Director General Public Relations, Ministry of Railways explains that it is the job of the state government to arrange police in Indian Railways. Government Railway Police (GRP) and District Police do the work of preventing, registering and investigating crimes in moving vehicles as well as maintaining law and order. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) helps the state police for the safety of the passengers. Apart from this, railway police personnel are also stationed at every railway station. Women policemen are also involved in this. For the safety of the passengers in the women’s special train and women’s bogie, the duty of a female constable is imposed. At present, 6,000 women force personnel are deployed in RPF, which is 9% of the total force personnel. Work is being done to bring it down to 10%, so that better work can be done on the safety of women passengers.

21 raped even after corona and lockdown, 113 molested
Talking about the safety of women in railways, Indian Railway Board told Dainik Bhaskar the statistics of incidents of crime against women from 2019 to September 2021. Some surprising things came to light in this. In 2019, 637 cases of crime against women were registered which decreased by less than half to 134 in 2020, which is a good thing. Although there is also a reason behind this that in 2020 due to Kovid, most trains were canceled, due to the lockdown, people traveled less. At the same time, one thing also came to the fore that where people were afraid to travel in Kovid, even they were shying away from touching each other. At that time also 134 cases of women crime were registered in the train, out of which 21 incidents are of rape. At the same time, till September 2021, 178 cases of crime against women were registered across the country, out of which 22 incidents are of rape.

Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala trains most unsafe for women
Talking about the crime of women in the train, traveling in many states of South is considered most unsafe for women. Its glimpse is also clearly visible in the crime records of the Indian Railway Board. According to the GRP records of the states, Maharashtra recorded the highest number of 194 cases of crime against women in trains and at railway stations in 2019. After this, in the list of unsafe states, Uttar Pradesh comes second with 80 cases and Kerala comes third with 73 cases. Talking about 2021, the situation does not seem to be changing much. As of September, Maharashtra and Kerala have registered 34-34 cases of women crime in trains, while 28 cases have been registered in Uttar Pradesh.

23% women consider railway stations most unsafe in public places
In March this year, on International Women’s Day, the Local Circles organization conducted a survey among Indian women and asked them some questions related to women’s safety. In the survey, 24 thousand women from 319 districts across the country took part. In this, the women openly said that even in public places, they consider themselves to be the most unsafe in the train. About 23% of women said that they were molested in trains and railway stations, while 17% women said that local trains and metro were unsafe.

If you are molested in the train, then do your safety like this, save this helpline number in your phone
If you are traveling alone in the train and someone tries to molest you, then do not panic at all. You can immediately contact the security helpline number 139, this number is operational 24×7.
Here it is the matter of the number, now suppose you are stuck in a situation where it is difficult to call and ask for help. Or say that you are nervous about asking for help on call, then there is also a digital way to overcome this difficulty. Women can also directly lodge complaints by visiting ‘Rail Madad’ portal of Indian Railways https://railmadad.indianrailways.gov.in/madad/final/home.jsp. For this, they will have to give their PNR number and give the details of the incident in writing. The Railway Police Force reaches within 10 to 15 minutes of making a complaint.

You can also ask for help on social media
You can also lodge a complaint by visiting the social media account of the Indian Railway Service. To complain on Twitter, visit the Indian Railways seva page. Write a complaint by tagging #OneRailOneHelpline139 @IRCTCofficial @RailMinIndia here giving your train number or PNR number. Help will reach you in no time.

Action is taken after complaint
Indian Railways is divided into 18 zones. About 4 to 5 states come in a zone. The responsibility of the safety of the train and passengers of that route lies with the same zone. If someone molests or misbehaves with a female passenger while traveling in a train, then the FIR is also lodged in the same district in the state where the incident happened to her. To file a crime report in a moving vehicle, a woman passenger can file an FIR in the train itself. The TTE, Guard and Carriage Escort in the train have the FIR form. After filling it, the FIR form is given to the officer of that station to register the case at the next police station. If no officer is found at the station then zero FIR is registered. After which it is given to the GRP i.e. Railway Police, from where they take further action.

These steps are being taken for the safety of women passengers
Keeping in mind the safety of women, the Indian Railway Service had launched the ‘Meri Saheli’ security scheme on 10 October 2020. In this, two teams of Lady RPF staff (one lady sub inspector and 2/3 lady constable) have been formed, who do duty in long distance trains and work for the safety of women passengers. At present, this service is running in only a few trains. Which includes 02809 (Mumbai-Howrah Special via Nagpur), 02189 (Mumbai-Nagpur Special) and 06345 (LTT-Ernakulam Special), 01071 (LTT-Varanasi Special) etc.

What is ‘my friend’? For women who travel alone, at the beginning of the journey, women security officers come to their seats and give them complete information related to train safety. Women are also given a paper in which all the necessary numbers to be used in emergency are written.

Monitoring of railway station and train with CCTV cameras Indian Railways is now emphasizing on installing more and more CCTV cameras for the safety of the passengers. For the safety of women passengers, CCTV cameras have been installed at 4010 coaches and 829 railway stations.

Women taking help from ‘Smart Saheli’ by joining WhatsApp group in Mumbai
Anil Jain, Senior Public Relations Officer of Central Railway Zone, told Bhaskar Woman that many initiatives have been taken in Mumbai keeping in mind the safety of women. In which women travelers can easily ask for help by connecting to WhatsApp.

what is smart friend A digital program ‘Smart Saheli’ is being run for the safety of women traveling in Mumbai’s local train every day. In this, 85 WhatsApp groups have been formed to give immediate attention to the complaints of women. In these groups, RPF mentors (women RPF staff) add women passengers who travel in Mumbai local trains daily. By connecting with WhatsApp, the female passenger immediately conveys her problem directly to the female officer, on which immediate action is taken. Groups of Sector Saheli, Station Saheli and Train Saheli have been formed in this work.

Safety on trains and platforms
Two teams of women RPF personnel have been deployed at stations in Mumbai for the safety of women on platforms. Each team consists of one woman sub-inspector and eight women constables. Which is deployed for the safety of women passengers from 9 pm to 6 am and keeps an eye on women passengers traveling in trains running all night.

Goa, Jammu, Himachal, Tripura and Nagaland considered safest for solo female travelers
We have talked about the difficulties of women’s travel in Indian Railways, now we know which state travel is the most pleasant and safe for women. If we look at the crime record of Indian Railways, from 2019 to 2021, Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Nagaland all together have registered only one case of female crime in the train. At the same time, till September 2021, only one case has been registered in Uttarakhand and Telangana.

safe railway for women
2021 cases till September