Mumbai: Is RPF too lenient on 'illegal' local train commuters?

Offenders still get away with fines of between R150 and R200Its not unusual to see commuters who fail to find room in the spacecrunched local trains thoughtlessly hop on to the handicapped coach What they dont know is that this breach could land them behind bars for at least two years with a fine of R1 lakh But thanks to the railway police which is knowingly cutting them some slack the offenders are getting away with measly finesOver the last few months the Railway Protection Force RPF has been carrying out special drives to curb the rampant menaceTheir method of publicly humiliating the offenders by making them stand on crutches on the platform may have drawn a lot of attention and deterred a few travellers But activists are surprised that the police have conveniently turned a blind eye to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities RPWD Act 2016 which could otherwise be a permanent solution to the problemThe Act which came into force last December and replaces the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995 recommends a twoyear jail term and R1 lakh fine for persons travelling in the handicapped coach But far from implementing the new law the RPF is letting the offenders go with petty finesDue to zero implementation of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 offenders are getting away with measly fines of anywhere between Rs 150 200Turning a blind eyeOn Tuesday the RPF arrested 29 offenders who were found travelling in handicapped coaches on local trains Of these six belonged to the police force and five were government servants All the offenders were produced in the metropolitan magistrate court at CST They were later booked under Section 155 of Railway Act and were allowed to go with a fine of Rs 150The paltry fine amount has irked activists working for the rights of disabled persons Nobody is talking about the RPWD Act 2016 which gives more rights to the disabled persons says advocate and activist Nitin Gaikwad I wrote to various authorities to implement the law but there has been no action yetAnother activist Samir Zaveri says the railways inaction is reflection of their apathy towards people with disabilities The RPF maintains that they dont have power to enact the law and that its the job of the Government Railway Police GRP does If thats the case they should handover such offenders to the GRP personnel so that the message will go out straight and clear he saidThe RPF seen publicly humiliating offenders by making them stand on crutches on the platform File picBlame game continuesMeanwhile the RPF and GRP are busy passing the buck to each other despite the law coming into force nearly seven months agoSachin Bhalode senior divisional security commissioner RPF CR admitted he had received various queries regarding implementation of the RPWD Act 2016 by RPF personnel But in reality we dont have the powers to implement the law This law comes under purview of state so GRP should take care of it he saidSamadhan Pawar DCP GRP wash his hands off the issue by blaming the RPF We dont have any difficulty implementing RPWD Act 2016 but RPF must keep us in the loop If they send these offenders to us we will take action he said