By IANS,
New Delhi : In two separate cases Thursday evening, men were thrashed in the Delhi Metro by security forces personnel for travelling in the coaches reserved for women.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has reserved the first coach of every train for female passengers from Oct 2.
However, even after almost two months, the instructions were not being implemented. Incidents of molestation and quarrels over seats in the crowded coaches have become an everyday affair.
“Two men were made to do sit-ups for travelling in the reserved coach at Hauz Khas Metro station,” said Cynthia Abraham, an eye witness.
Due to the mayhem, the train did not move from the Metro station for almost an hour.
Similarly, five-six men were thrashed at the Guru Dronacharya Metro Station as Gurgaon Police launched a drive to keep male commuters away from the forbidden coach.
“We were getting a lot of complaints that male commuters are travelling forcibly in coaches reserved for women,” said Bharti Arora, deputy commissioner of police (traffic) Gurgaon.
“There were also some complaints about eve-teasing. To make travel safe for women commuters, we started a drive Thursday evening. The drive will continue for a week,” she added.
The Gurgaon police commissioner formed squads of women policemen and placed them at five Metro stations of Gurgaon.
Vikky Seghal, a Gurgaon-based employee, almost lost his eye in the thrashing he received.
“Vikky boarded the train from Sikanderpur and entered the ladies coach to hand over to me my laptop. However, due to the heavy rush, he could not move to the general coaches,” said a female friend of Sehgal.
“Suddenly, five male and two female security personnel entered the coach and started thrashing all the men who were standing next to the women’s coach. They used abusive language and did not even listen to us,” she added.
Seghal’s spectacles were broken and he was hurt near his eyes. His nose started to bleed profusely.
“Finally, we got down at the Guru Dronacharya Station and went to the customer care to report the case. I had to rush him to the hospital,” she added.
A senior Gurgaon police officer said: “Currently we are challenging them as per the DMRC guidelines but if the male passengers continue to board the reserved coach, stricter action will be taken.”
A Delhi Metro official said: “The security personnel need to be stricter as even after a month of exclusive coach, men are still ogling, pushing or groping women. We even introduced a fine of Rs.200 but the condition persisted, so the security guards had to get stricter.”
When IANS contacted Central Industrial Security Force, which provides security at Metro, they denied any kind of involvement in the incidents.