Railways to issue passes to cops on trains

KOCHI: The Southern Railways on Wednesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that it will issue passes to all police personnel deployed on trains for ensuring the safety of woman passengers. M Ravindran, Additional Solicitor-General of India (South), made the submission in response to a batch of petitions seeking a directive to the Railways, the Central and State governments to ensure the safety of woman passengers. “Passes would be issued to the personnel, if a list with proper identity details are given by the Superintendent of Police to the Railways,” the ASG said.A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice V Chitambaresh recorded the submissions and adjourned the hearing of the case to April 11.  The petitioners said that the recent incident in which some woman passengers travelling in the Kottayam-Ernakulam passenger train were attacked, showed that there was no safety for woman passengers. However, the ASG submitted that some positive steps were being contemplated to ensure the safety of woman passengers. “Apart from 56 woman constables, additional police force has been deployed for the safety of passengers. The state government has also taken a decision to increase the number of personnel and to bear 50 per cent of the expenses,” he pointed out.The Railways had earlier said that the security of women and other passengers was its prime concern and that innovative measures have been initiated for the safety of woman passengers.