In a horrifying incident that revives questions about the safety of passengers in running trains, three women, including a 50-year-old US citizen, were assaulted and forced to vacate their reserved seats in the New Delhi-bound Gomti Express on Wednesday in the presence of train attendants and railway security personnel.
Kim Mcghee, her Indian friend Rochael Singh, and her teenaged daughter boarded the 12419 Gomti Express from lucknow on March 1 to reach Delhi for sightseeing. After her nightmarish experience in the journey, Kim has vowed never to return to India again.
“I am disappointed with the kind of safety measures Indian Railways has and that too for women passengers. Imagine our horror. While we were abused and assaulted, the uniformed security forces and train attendants remained mute spectators and refused to come to our rescue. Claiming they themselves could be beaten up, the security men advised us to bear with the unruly commuters. We could never imagine a reserved foreign passenger can be subjected to such trauma, Kim, a resident of Kentucky, told The Pioneer.
Kim has registered a formal complaint with the Northern Railway and also intends to approach the US Embassy.
“We’ve already lodged a complaint with the Railway authorities and hope they will take speedy actions so that others passengers do not face similar predicament while traveling from lucknow to Delhi,” said Rochael.
The trio boarded the train at Aligarh, and the altercation started when some unruly commuters asked them to vacate their seats. When Rochael and Kim tried to resist, they were pushed off from the berths. All this happened before the Railway Police personnel who allegedly refused to intervene saying these men were daily passengers who could even beat them if they come in between.
“My 20-year-old daughter is in a complete state of shock. I used to read about such incidents in media but never imagined the same could happen to us. We had read so much about Railway authorities responding to even ‘tweets, but here we were crying for help and no one no one came to us. All I can say is that this was one of the most shocking experiences of my life. Where are the much-claimed CCTVs in coaches, where were the specially trained women safety cops of the Indian railways,” Rochael said talking to The Pioneer.
last month, an engineering student Yogesh Kumar Singh, who was on his way to Gaya in Bihar for his marriage ended up in jail because he argued with the train ticket examiner for imposing a penalty for the waitlisted ticket, which is against the Indian Railways booking rules. Yogesh was traveling with his ailing mother and sister. His father, who works as a private security guard, had to borrow Rs one lakh to get Yogesh out on bail for his wedding. No action has been taken against the guilty officials.
It is well known that passengers face harrowing time from daily passengers when trains cross places like Aligarh and adjoining stations. Most of these ticketless commuters get into even AC compartment and force reserved passengers to make way for them. Sadly, Railway authorities have always turned a blind eye and deaf ears to their plight.