Some women have jumped off trains to escape sexual attackers
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - India's new government announced plans to boost security for women on the country's massive train network in its first railway budget.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government said it had already strengthened security in trains and at stations by deploying 17,000 Railway Police Force (RPF) constables and promised to recruit and deploy a further 4,000 women constables.
"In order to ensure security of ladies travelling alone, special instructions are being issued for their safety in each class of travel," Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda told parliament while presenting his first budget on Tuesday.
"With the induction of women RPF constables, coaches for ladies will be escorted. Additional care will be taken for ladies travelling alone in all classes."
India has the world's fourth-longest rail network after the United States, Russia and China. Some 23 million Indians travel daily by rail, but there have been increasing reports of sexual attacks on women passengers, sometimes forcing victims to jump off moving trains in order to escape.
In February, an engineering student was admitted to the hospital in serious condition after she flung herself from a speeding train to escape being molested by a group of youths in West Bengal state.
Gowda said that RPF escort teams on trains would be provided with mobile phones so that passengers could contact them when in distress, and that a security helpline service would be expanded.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
