Mumbai: FIR against woman for pulling emergency chain

Vineeta Singh arguing with RPF personnel

The Railway Police Force (RPF) has registered a case against a 46-year-old woman from Bhiwandi who allegedly pulled the emergency chain on an express train and created a ruckus at Kalyan railway station, resulting in the delay of all trains on Thursday. The police said the woman tried to justify pulling the emergency chain as she had boarded the second sleeper coach instead of the AC coach. Meanwhile a video of the complete ruckus and disturbance at the platform went viral on social media.

The RPF officials identified the woman as Vineeta Singh, a resident of Bhiwandi. Singh, who is a seamstress, was accompanied by her married daughter and husband who is a businessman and was going to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. "She was about to board a Gorakhpur Special train from platform number 4 at Kalyan Railway station. It was around 4.40 pm on Wednesday when the train reached the platform. Singh's berth was in the AC coach B2, however, when the train arrived at Kalyan, Singh found herself in front of the S8 coach. Though the family boarded the coach, they panicked on realising their folly and pulled the emergency chain even though the train was stationary and had yet to depart from Kalyan station.

A huge crowd gathered to see the chaos created by the woman's shouting and screaming at RPF officials, justifying her action. However, pulling a chain without a valid emergency is an offence as per the Indian Railways Act. "As the train couldn't depart on time, the traffic on the suburban and long distance routes were affected during the evening peak hour," said a police officer.

Rakesh Kumar, police inspector, Kalyan RPF said, "We have registered a case against her under the Indian Railway Act."