Following the shocking incident of a ticket examiner urinating on a passenger, Union Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on March 14, 2023 that there is zero tolerance for such behaviour and that the ticket examiner in question had been removed from service with immediate effect.
Around midnight on Sunday (March 12), Munna Kumar, a Railways ticket examiner, is said to have urinated on the head of a woman passenger travelling on Akal Takht Express (No. 12317) running between Kolkata and Amritsar. PTI quoted the police as saying that the off-duty TTE was under the influence of alcohol.
The woman and her husband had been occupants of an A1 coach, while the ticket examiner was travelling in the same coach a few berths away. After the woman sounded an alarm, fellow passengers nabbed Munna Kumar.
The woman’s husband has lodged a complaint with the Government Railway Police at Charbag in Lucknow. Munna Kumar has been arrested and sent to judicial custody on charges of assault and sexual harassment.
At the time of the incident, the train was nearing Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh.
A termination letter, issued by the Northern Railways to Mr. Kumar and tweeted by the Railways Minister, stated, “Your conduct showing disrespect for women construes a serious misconduct, in the process bringing disrepute not only to your own self but entire Railways as an organisation. Taking cognisance of this grave matter, I consider it to be a fit case to adopt the provision of Rule 14 (ii)... and deem it fit to impose the punishment of removal from service with immediate effect for behaviour unbecoming of a railway servant.” The letter was signed by the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Ambala Cantonment Division.
Mr. Kumar has been terminated under Railway Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1968 and can make an appeal against the order with 45 days of termination from service, the letter stated.
This incident of a traveller urinating on a fellow passenger comes close on the heels of three such incidents aboard airplanes on international flights.
