Central Railway (CR) has nabbed 311 people belonging to the transgender community in August and collected over Rs 1 lakh in fines from them following complaints of harassment from men travelling in th
Central Railway (CR) has nabbed 311 people belonging to the transgender community in August and collected over Rs 1 lakh in fines from them following complaints of harassment from men travelling in the general compartments of its local trains.
Officials said that while earlier transgenders constrained themselves to entering coaches only during non-peak hours, off late they had become audacious and had been entering general coaches even during the peak hours.
“The idea is to embarrass or harass a male commuter during the peak hours when there is a maximum number of people around. The transgenders know there is a certain social stigma attached to being harassed by them, and a man usually shells out money faster than a woman commuter,” said a Railway Police Force (RPF) official who was part of the team.
As a result, the RPF began to deploy its constables in plainclothes at stations such as Kurla, Thane, Kalyan, Reay Road, Dockyard Road and Sandhurst Road. “We did collect more than Rs 1 lakh during the drive, but that was not the only goal. We wanted to address the problem that these transgender persons had begun to get away with a lot of harassment. Again, this does not mean that all of them were harassing, but there were some groups who were doing exactly that,” said CR’s RPF senior divisional security personnel, Sachin Bhalode.
The transgenders have been charged with the Railway Act section 114 B that deals with begging. Officials said the drive would be resumed after the Ganpati as many of its personnel had been shifted to provide security for the festival.
“Begging has always been illegal on the platform or in the train. So, we have taken action based on that rule of the railway Act,” he added.
