RTI discovers misuse of law by Railway Police

Victimizing an Activist
Krishnaraj Rao is an activist agitating and creating public awareness for the rights of the pedestrians over the roads in Mumbai. He has been distributing letters to be written to the various authorities on this subject. These have his address and phone numbers. Somebody stuck one of these in a Railway compartment. The Railway Police Force landed up at his house and charged him with a crime he did not commit. He was taken to a Metropolitan Magistrates Court and asked to plead guilty. He rightly refused to plead guilty, since he had no knowledge or responsibility in someone pasting a paper with his name and address in a railway compartment. He is now on a harassment routine which could mean countless trips to Courts.
I noticed that in any railway compartment there are many illegal posters and papers stuck. To understand hwo many people had been charged with the offence Krishnarao is being charged with, I filed a RTI with RPF, Central Mumbai on 28 April asking: “Please send me details of the total number of prosecutions for unauthorised pasting of posters in trains during the last one year (May 2007 to April 2008), giving the following details:
a) Total number of individuals and institutions prosecuted while pasting the posters.
b) Total number of individuals and institutions prosecuted whose names and numbers were found on posters stuck in the compartments .”

The answer by the Public information officer reveals that only 30 people were prosecuted during this period. Nobody was caught in the act of pasting a poster. The implications are obvious. There are thousands of posters illegally pasted in the trains. It is obvious that this is done with the corrupt complicity of the RPF. Equally worrying;- the RPF can target any honest activist or Citizen by pasting a paper with their name and address on a railway carriage. Civil society must act to curb this nefarious and brazen activity of the Railway Police force.
shailesh gandhi
16 May, 2008