Delhi HC issues notice in plea seeking highest standards of security measures in Railway stations

The Delhi High Court has issued notice in a petition seeking a direction to the Central Government to maintain the highest standards of safety and security measures at Delhi Railways Stations and all railway stations across India..The petition has specifically sought the introduction of several safety measures in the Indian Railways such as installation of Anti-Collusion Devices, Alcohol Checking devices, emergency telephones, CCTV cameras at stations etc. .Notice was issued to the Centre, Railway Board and Railway Protection Force by a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar in a public interest litigation preferred by advocate Kush Kalra who was represented by Advocate Chinmoy Sharma. .Relying on RTI replies received by him from various authorities, the petitioner has contended that in spite of huge budgetary allocations to Indian Railways, there is complete disregard to provide safety and security facilities to secure the protection of the life of the commuters/ passengers which is guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. The petition states,.“..the right to safety and security has been recognized as a basic Human Right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India despite of that the Respondent Authorities miserably failed to equipped or installed the safety and security measures for the commuters of Indian Railways.”.As examples, the petitioner has submitted that while the Authorities have installed the Anti-Collusion Devices only at Northeast Frontier railways and nowhere else, scanning machines are also not installed at most of the railway stations. .The petitioner has thus contended that in view of the Constitutional obligation on the Government to provide basic adequate safety and security measures to the commuters of Indian Railways, the Authorities “cannot adopt a pick and choose method and decide in its own wisdom to identify Railway Stations for installation of safety and security measures to the exclusion of the others“. .In view of the above, the petitioner has additionally sought a direction to the Central Government, Railway Board and Railway Protection Force to act on the railway police audit of Delhi railway stations and submit a safety compliance report of the same to the Court..The matter would be heard next on March 13.