27 May,2011 06:08 AM IST | | Akela
RPF jawan occupies an entire seat in bogie reserved for disabled, his formidable dog slouches on another; he then abuses physically-challenged men who ask for place to sit
The 'inhuman' face of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) officials in the city came to the fore again yesterday, with an RPF jawan's dogged insistence that his Labrador was more deserving of an entire seat in a train's bogie reserved for disabled people than the disabled themselves, who had to cover the journey standing up. After asking a handicapped man to vacate a public bench last week, another RPF official yesterday from the cadre occupied two entire seats in a local with his dog. On being asked to make place for people to sit, he put his foot down and started abusing.
It's a dog's world: The RPF dog handlers use the coach reserved for
handicapped commuters regularly, and rough up passengers if they
object
Yesterday, Deepak Kaitake, who works for News Stock Monitoring Service (NSMS) in Kandivli, was waiting at Mahim station to board a Borivli-bound local at 10.36 am. When the train arrived, Kaitake (31), paralysed in the left hand, made his way to the compartment for handicapped people, but saw that it was more crowded than usual. After getting on board, he saw why. An RPF jawan, a dog handler, was lounging on a whole seat, and on the seat facing him, sprawled and growled a formidable black Labrador. Other occupants of the compartment just maintained their distance from the canine and his rude owner, he said.u00a0
According to Kaitake (31), the physically-challenged men asked the official, later identified as SM Surendran, to vacate the seat but he said no. Nobody wanted to go close to the constable or the dog fearing that either could snap at the slightest provocation, eyewitnesses told MiD DAY. "When we asked the jawan to make place for us to sit, he refused. Then he abused us and threatened us," said Kaitake, adding, "I have complained to railway authorities of his misbehaviour."u00a0 He further said, "This is not the first time. RPF officials travel with their digs in the bogie reserved for handicapped people all the time. The ticket collector never fines them."
Earlier, MiD DAY had reported ('RPF asks disabled man to vacate bench', May 8) how RPF officials had asked Jhaveri, an RTI activist suffering from 80 per cent disability, to vacate the bench he was sitting on at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) station. They claimed that the seat was reserved for RPF jawans.u00a0
In fact, the bench has been donated by the Mehta Trust. But a handwritten note on a piece of paper stuck on the wall above it states that it is meant for use by the RPF only.
The Other Side
"This is very unfortunate. I will look into the matter," said Mahim Swami, inspector general, RPF, Western Railway.
