The Western Railway has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Amnesty International Trust to ensure the safety and security of women passengers on trains and at railway stations. Ticket-checkers, Railway Protection Force personnel and reservation counter staff will be trained to make sure women passengers feel secure on trains and are empowered to raise a complaint when in need. The MOU has been signed for a five-year period: from May 2017 to May 2022.
Changing attitudes
The training workshop by Amnesty International, one of the world’s largest grass-roots level human rights movements, will engage with nearly 75,000 women passengers to identify their areas of concern. Gender sensitisation training will be given to 1,200 railway employees, and a team of 60 employees will be formed to look into women’s safety issues. The WR official said, “The training workshops to the railway staff and passengers will bring about behavioural and attitudinal changes towards women’s safety and gender sensitivity issues.”
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Western Railway officials said they decided to sign the pact following a survey by Amnesty International Trust among 15,000 women passengers about how safe they felt while travelling through seven of its critical stations: Dadar, Borivali, Santacruz, Malad, Bandra, Andheri and Lower Parel.
A senior Western Railway official said, “The survey results revealed that women passengers did not register an official complaint after being molested or harassed as they lacked confidence in the railway staff and presumed it would be a time-consuming process.” The survey showed that 31% of women passengers faced sexual harassment but only 1% of them reported it to the police.
A WR official said, “The survey explored the cause for the hesitation of the women passengers to approach the police, the social stigma associated with being a victim of sexual harassment, the social discrimination faced by women and the lack of information regarding the procedures to file a complaint.” National Family Health Survey results also revealed a drop in the rate of sexual harassment cases being reported.
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‘First of its kind’
Mukul Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, WR, said, “The Mumbai Division of the Indian Railways is the first to take up such a collaborative, committed and long-term initiative over five years to ensure the safety of women commuters.” Saurabh Prasad, Additional Divisional Railway Manager, Western Railway, said, “This collaboration is a result of encouraging feedback from women passengers and based on the results of a pilot programme we conducted with Amnesty International last year. The training programme will make our frontline staff proactive towards ensuring women’s safety.”
Nearly 35 lakh passengers travel on the Western Railway network, comprising of 36 railway stations, every day. Approximately 1.2 billion passengers use the network every year. Of the 35 lakh passengers, nearly 7.5 lakh passengers are women.