R.R. Prasad who, till recently,was IG Railways: "The fact that some of our men are involved in therobberies is absolutely shocking." Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadavadmitted in the state assembly that there is a police-dacoit nexus.
On March 12, when MPs raised a hueand cry about the robberies in Parliament, the Bihar government rushedAK-47-wielding commandos of the Bihar Military Police (BMP) to man the trains,making it clear that the GRP force was inadequate. The exact number of commandosdeployed is being kept a secret but when 20 of them patrolled Patna station andevicted ticket-less passengers, it worked. Points out the GRP inspector incharge of Patna station: "We need a force like this to be effective."What perhaps led to the delay in deploying commandos is the cold war betweenLaloo Prasad Yadav and Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. As a result, neitherthe Railway Ministry nor the state government was doing anything to stop thedacoities. While it's true that the GRP is under state control, the RailwayMinistry could well have put pressure on the Bihar government to take someaction.
In any case, the deployment ofcommandos is an ad hoc measure, and police offi-cials fear that the dacoits willbe back in business once the BMP men are withdrawn. The passengers feel the sameway.
The police want a total revamp ofthe GRP to make it an effective force. In 1985, the Railway Norms Committee hadrecommended the state government to recruit at least 8,000 men for the GRP, butthere was no recruitment drive. As a result, the GRP today has a strength of2,500—and is in charge of the security of 600 trains that pass through Bihar.On an average, the GRP cannot put up more than four policemen per train.
To combat the paucity of staff,the state government decided to provide police escort only on the trains runningat night. This hasn't worked because many so-called day trains run hoursbehind schedule and ply at night. On March 9, the Howrah-bound Janata Expresswas running an hour late when it was looted outside Patna at 7.30 pm. The GRP atPatna did not have the personnel to escort the train. Says T.P. Sinha,additional DGP of the railway police: "There is a severe personnel shortageand we have informed the state government.
Hopefully, it will recruit some mensoon." The manpower shortage apart, there is total lack of coordinationbetween the GRP, the district police and the Central Railway Police (CRP),leading to an absurd scenario. Going by the book, the CRP's sole concern isprotecting railway property. Crimes committed inside trains do not fall underits purview. That's the GRP's task which also handles crimes inside railwaystations. The dacoit is outside the jurisdiction of the GRP once he gets off thetrain, and this is where the district police has to chip in.
So what happens when there is a dacoity? If apolice escort (four constables and a havildar) has been provided, it could checkout if something is amiss when there is an unscheduled halt. Sometimes, thedepleted police escort may be too far off from the scene of crime, giving thebandits enough time to flee. Since the dacoits are familiar with the terrain, itis easier for them to escape into the night. The GRP then reports the crime tothe nearest police station. Then there is the problem of the policemen of aparticular station refusing to register FIRs for dacoities committed outsidetheir jurisdiction. Also, the lack of witnesses has led to many cases failing incourt. With a low conviction rate, the GRP is a toothless force.
Since the dacoits usually operate in teams ofabout 20 members, a five-man escort party equipped with .303 bolt action riflesis often ineffective. Four gangs have been identified as train robbers—theNitya Sonar gang, Prem Majhi gang and those operated by Anant Singh andMaharajiya. Strangely, state political parties are not unduly perturbed aboutthe train dacoities. Besides token demonstrations by the BJP, the SamajwadiParty, Congress and the CPI(M), the BJP and the Congress submitted memoranda tothe state governor. The state government was also not doing too much until thefurore in Parliament forced Laloo to take some action.
Now that the chief minister has shunted out thetop brass of the railway police and the commandos are in place, how safe is atrain journey in Bihar? Additional DGP Sinha is guarded in his reply: "Letus say that making travelling safe is our motto." Police officials pointout that a mere reshuffling of senior staff will not help because the GRPsuffers from a severe manpower crunch. Then, the authorities have to check theovercrowding in the reserved compartments, for which the railways have toprovide better services and more trains. It's a vicious circle.
