Though great hue and cry was raised in official circles as well as in civil society about providing foolproof security to the women folk in the country after the Delhi rape case in a running bus, the situation on the ground has not improved much. Cases of rape, molestation and violence against women are reported by the media regularly which shows that the graph of violence has not come down.
There are serious security lapses leading to violence against women. The recent case of attack by burglars and criminals on a lone woman and forcibly snatching her purse while she was travelling in Rajdhani train from Jammu to New Delhi on the night of 20-21 November is too shocking. It shows how much vulnerable the women are to violence against them in various forms. This is again a blatant case of security lapse. How did the criminals board the train and where? Why were not the doors of the train locked from inside? Where was the attendant and where were the railway police on duty? Why did the train stop at an unscheduled station? These are serious questions and circumstantially the assault on the victim was pre-meditated. Railway Ministry has to come out with a satisfactory reply. Rajdhani is a prestigious train and passengers, generally women — accompanied or unaccompanied—-prefer to travel by it because apart from other conveniences, it provides special security during travel. This notion has proved false and misleading by the incident in question, reported in the columns of this paper on 22 November. Earlier also, a number of chain snatching incidents have happened with many women passengers coming to Jammu for pilgrimage to the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi. It is also moral duty of Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board to emphasize upon railway authorities to ensure safety of passengers coming in lakhs for pilgrimage
The woman passenger was looted of her purse containing some cash and golden ornaments besides important documents and a cell phone. The brave victim struggled with the burglars inside the compartment as far as she could, and even after being overpowered, she jumped down from the train to grab the escaping burglars in the wee hours of a dark night not deterred by the risk of criminals attacking her fatally. Unfortunately, she fell down while pursuing the burglars and was seriously injured in many parts of her body. This is a case in which the Railway Ministry should immediately order an enquiry. The victim has to be compensated for the losses she has suffered owing to inability of the Railway Police to provide her protection. These preventive but very necessary actions will restore confidence among the passengers, especially female passengers of security of life ad property while they are travelling by Indian Railways. The prestige of the railways is involved. Credit goes to two jawans of Indian Army who were also travelling in the same compartment and stopped the Rajdhani by pulling the chain, lifted the wounded victim and brought her back to the compartment otherwise she would have been left exposed to counter attack by the criminals in the darkness of the night.
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