Travel terror

A sportswoman in Uttaru00a0Pradesh lost her leg fighting robbers in a running train recently. In Mumbai, women are resorting to carrying pepper spray to ensure their safety while commuting in local trains

Arunima Sinha (23), a National level volleyball player fought with hoodlums who tried to snatch her gold chain on a train. In the scuffle, Arunima managed to save her gold chain but was thrown off the train. Sinha's left leg was run over by another train coming from the opposite direction and was amputated.u00a0The incident happened in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh on April 11 but resonates amongst women commuters in Mumbai.


Illustration/Jishu Dev Malakar

Last year, a 14-year-old boy entered a local train in Malad and saw a woman commuter alone in the compartment. He slashed her neck before snatching her cell phone and jumping off at the next station. The woman, later filed a complaint with the railway police, who managed to trace the culprit. Incidents of chain snatching, theft, robbery and violence against women in trains are rife in Mumbai. More than 6.8 million commuters travel in local trains everyday. Even as women use trains for their daily commute, the fear of becoming targets are uppermost in their minds.

Trouble
Choiti Ghosh recalls one such incident when she was coming back from Churchgate to Andheri, "It was 10 pm and I got into a second class ladies compartment. There was another woman in the compartment. At Dadar station, four men who were drunk got into the train and one of them came and sat really close to me. I started yelling at him. The other woman too joined me and we asked all of them to get down at the next station."

One day a handicapped woman (she suffers from polio) who commutes six hours every day in the train (communting between Virar and Chembur both ways) to reach her workplace in Chembur said, "Usually men would travel in the compartment meant for handicapped people. One day when I was getting into the compartment, few men on the pretext of helping me, held my hand and made me sit really close to them. I started feeling very uncomfortable," she says. From that day onwards, she stopped travelling in the compartment meant for handicapped people. "Even if the compartments are jam-packed, and I still travel in the women's compartment," she says.

Measures
Such incidents do leave an indelible mark on hapless women commuters. They may want to completely shun travelling but they do not have a choice. Some prefer to travel only with their families. Kurla's Salma Ahmed Shaikh travels in first class ladies' compartment during the day. However, after dark she travels with her husband in the second class gents' compartment. The reason is, "obviously personal safety". Similarly, Kavita Mohite, born and brought up in Mumbai, says "At night, I only travel with my family," she says.

Pepper Spray
Women commuters have begun to assert themselves and many of them are now taking the issue of personal safety in their own hands. As a precaution, some women carry red chilli powder or pepper spray with them while commuting. Shruti Dharwadkar, a student, is one of them. "A pepper spray can in my bag just makes me feel more confident while travelling," says Shruti who travels between Goregaon and Dadar everyday.
Dharwadkar has been carrying her "ammunition" since 2009 and says, "It has now become a habit."

Chain
In an emergency a commuter can pull the chain. But many women complain they are not sure if pulling the chain can actually bring the train to a halt, because, "most of the time the chains don't work". Many have memorised help line numbers in case of an emergency. "I have noted down the numbers of some youth help line groups. As far as pulling a chain is concerned, I have always wondered if it works. I do believe that if you pull it hard enough then it might work," says Dhardwadkar.

Others seek help from the Government Railway Police (GRP) in case of trouble. Says Neha Khetan, "I was once accosted by a mad man in the train. He was improperly dressed. I got down at the very next station and screamed out for the police," says Neha Khetan. She was lucky that a constable came to her rescue and pushed the man out of the compartment.

Khetan says she had to resort to such dramatic action because her female co-passengers didn't come forward to help. "There were other women in the train but nobody came forward when I was yelling at the man and asking him to leave. I was really scared," says Khetan.

Police
When Shaila Pathak, an advocate, lost her gold chain five years ago, she immediately filed a police complaint. "The incident happened between Khar and Bandra. Two men, armed with a knife and a pistol, got into the ladies' compartment and snatched my gold chain. Before I could respond, they jumped off at the next station," says Pathak.

Pathak got her chain back and the culprits were nabbed. In another incident, two years ago, her mobile phone was stolen from the compartment she was travelling in. "I got down at Borivli station and checked my purse. I noticed that my cell phone was missing," she says. She got lucky again as she followed the same procedure and the men were nabbed within a week.

After 8:30 pm every train must be accompanied by a GRP constable for security reasons. "Every train is accompanied by one GRP constable. Constables are asked to report for their night duty and we have attendance sheets to ensure that constables are reporting on time," says Railway Police Commissioner (GRP) Tukaram Chavan. The total strength of the GRP is 1,800 out of which more than 200 constables are deputed for night duty between 8: 30 pm and 6:30 am. During this period, more than 600 trains run in Mumbai.

Security
Women say there is a need to increase the security personnel on trains. The GRP is defensive on the issue. Says a senior GRP officer, "We cannot have 10 GRP constables in just one train to take care of the commuters. So security in that sense will never be enough." Women commuters, however, disagree with the GRP. They say that constables can be seen accompanying the trains only once in a while. "Often they are missing on duty", says a female commuter. Even the railways have asked the RPF to provide security in the ladies compartments in the absence of a constable. "Security is primarily the duty of the GRP.u00a0 But we have now deputed RPF constables on various trains to beef up the security," says Vidyadhar Malegaonkar, Chief PRO, Central Railway (CR). The CR has an RPF women's cell, called Tejaswini Squad, consisting of lady ticket checkers and RPF lady constables to take care of the security, says Malegaonkar.

Arunima to be shifted tou00a0AIIMS
Arunima Sinha, whose crushed left leg was amputated after robbers threw her off a running train last week, will be shifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for treatment as the union sports and health ministries offered her 'the best possible facilities and treatment'. The decision to shift her to AIIMS came after a serious infection was noticed in the leg for which she underwent a second round of surgery at the Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University in Lucknow on Sunday. In his letter, union Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi expressed concern about the quality of medical care Arunima was getting. Earlier Monday, union Sports Minister Ajay Maken came to meet Arunima at the hospital and offered to shift her to New Delhi for specialised treatment. Ahead of Maken's visit, state Sports Minister Ayodhya Prasad Pal visited Arunima and offered her a job in the sports department.

Girlu00a0students molested
Four girl students of Calcutta University were molested and another was beaten up allegedly by some youths inside an express train while they were returning from Varanasi, say railway officials. A group of youths boarded the Amritsar Mail from Varanasi without tickets on Sunday night and forcibly occupied seats in the reserved compartment. When the students protested and sought intervention of RPF personnel, they were physically and verbally abused by the hoodlums who outnumbered them, the officials said. "We pulled the chain twice at Patna and shouted for help but no one came to our rescue. We could not find any security personnel. None of the co-passengers protested when the girls were being molested inside the crowded train," says one of the victims.
The students were returning to Howrah from Varanasi, where they had gone for a university study trip.
- Agencies

Tips while commutingu00a0
* Be alert
* If you witness an incident, inform the police present at the station or call the help line on 9833331111
* Request other women for help
* In case of chain snatching or any theft, report the incident to the police
* Carry pepper spray or red chilli powder with you. Use them in case of an emergency
* Pull the chain in case of any trouble. If the train doesn't come to a halt, report the incident at the next station