Railway police counsel teens against taking selfies, carrying out stunts on local trains

MUMBAI: Mumbai's teens, no strangers to the selfie bug, have the Government Railway Police (GRP) worried every time they whip out their phone on the city’s lifeline. Alarmed with their choice of locations for clicking selfies—rooftops, footboards and even train tracks— the GRP have started visiting schools and colleges to talk to students about the risk it poses to their lives.The interactive sessions are also targeted at curbing other worrisome trends that involve youngsters like pelting stones on trains, walking on the edge of platforms with headphones on and performing stunts.
On November 2, a 14-year-old from Kanjurmarg was electrocuted while trying to click a selfie on the rooftop of a train parked at Nahur car-shed. He accidentally touched an overhead wire and suffered 80% burns. Earlier this year, a 16-year-old sustained 90% burns while trying to click a rooftop selfie at Jogeshwari.
“We’ve been showing students videos of how clicking selfies or walking with headphones on can lead to disastrous accidents. Most of them react with shock. We want these images to stay on their minds,” said GRP commissioner Madhukar Pandey. “Our target is to cover 100 educational institutions in six months. We have shortlisted 17 schools to be covered on priority and our team has started visiting them.”
The GRP team is headed by a woman inspector, Mrudula Dighe, who addresses around 500 students over 90 minutes. “There have been many instances, particularly on the Central and Harbour lines, where commuters have suffered injuries from stones flung on moving trains. The stones are thrown from slums dotting the tracks. We want to visit civic-run schools and educational institutes in slum colonies to address this issue,” said Dighe. Civic schools in Wadala and Mankhurd are among those shortlisted by the GRP team.
Besides rail safety, the GRP has started educating schoolgirls on personal safety and how to ensure safety of their belongings while travelling. “We’ve put together images of thefts and snatchings from CCTV grabs and also made a couple of short films. The students are taught how to hold their bags and stand away from footboards. We discuss with them what constitutes sexual harassment on railways, why they need to raise an alarm and which compartments are guarded by armed escorts. They are provided with helpline numbers and given information on whom to approach for help,” Dighe said.
For theft victims, the GRP’s advice is to not chase the thief on their own, but to involve a cop. In August this year, a 29-year-old woman was standing at the door of a train at Kalyan when her purse was snatched. Gupte fell off the train but managed to get up and chase him. Later, she stepped onto the adjacent tracks and was knocked down by another train, losing her life. The GRP has been narrating actual cases like Gupte's and Eshwarkar’s to students.