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Drill to check eve-teasing on Metro

Staff Reporter

"In any emergency passengers can press the emergency button installed at the doors"

USEFUL EXERCISE: Delhi Metro staff `pointing out' eve-teasers to Delhi Police officers during the mock exercise on Tuesday. Photo: V. Sudershan

NEW DELHI: Some young men who tried to act funny with a girl travelling by a Delhi Metro train between Central Secretariat and Patel Chowk stations of Line 2 on Tuesday afternoon prompted the victim to press the emergency button near the doors and summon the police with the help of the driver. At the very next station when the train stopped, the miscreants were nabbed by the police.

Though this was a mock exercise -- in which both the complainant and the accused were Delhi Metro Rail Corporation employees -- it was conducted in view of a recent eve-teasing incident that took place in a train.

"About a week ago, a girl was teased by a boy on a train and, not knowing where the emergency button was, she banged on the driver's cabin door. But by the time action could be initiated the culprit had fled," said DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal.

"Not wanting a repeat of the incident," he said, "the DMRC has undertaken a campaign to inform all passengers, especially women, that in the event of any emergency like eve-teasing they can simply press the emergency button installed at the doors. There are four such buttons in every coach -- two on either side of the aisle. When you press it, the driver through a control panel immediately comes to know the door from where the button is pressed. Through a two-way communication system he can converse with the passenger and know what the problem is."

While these buttons have so far helped in saving the lives of many passengers in cases of medical emergency henceforth they will also be used for curbing incidents of eve-teasing and other crimes. "There have been 43 incidents of pick-pocketing on the Metro system so far. But now if any crime takes place the passengers can inform the driver who would immediately get in touch with the Operational Control Centre where the security control room is situated. Then to ensure that the culprits do not leave the train, he can keep the doors sealed at the next station till the time the police personnel reach the platform and the door from where the emergency is reported." In case a passenger is unable to reach the emergency button, he or she can also dial 100 or the security control room phone no. 22185555 for immediate response. Mr Dayal said the response of the Metro Rail staff and the police would be prompt and quick. "This should act as a deterrent against all forms of crime on the Metro Rail as now miscreants would know that getting away after committing a crime would be next to impossible." To make passengers aware about the features of the emergency system, the DMRC would also be putting up stickers to inform the public about their rights. And in Phase II of the Metro project, it would also be installing cameras inside all the coaches.

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