RPF personnel not to check passengers' ticket

New Delhi: Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel will not check tickets of passengers, RPF Director General Dharmendra Kumar has said.

The direction came in a letter to all zonal railways less than a month after a passenger fell to his death from a train while allegedly being chased by an RPF squad for travelling without a ticket.

"RPF personnel will not be involved in ticket checking drives and chasing passengers for this purpose on moving trains and on platforms as it may create panic amongst passengers leading to serious incidents.

"Any violation of this order shall be viewed seriously and supervisory officers will be held liable for mishaps on this account," the letter dated September 19 from Kumar said. On August 26 this year, the GRP at Mahoba in Jhansi, Madhya Pradesh lodged an FIR against an RPF squad for allegedly throwing a 22-year-old engineer off a moving train.

Earlier too videos of RPF personnel taking fines from ticketless passengers had gone viral, prompting the railways to issue instructions in this regard.

The letter from the DG states that the provisions of the Railway Act make it clear that ticket checking and levy of excess charge are to be done only by ticket checking staff and intent to defraud has to be ascertained by them.

"RPF officers, of and above the rank of ASI, may arrest under section 137 and 138 of Railway Act only when an offender is handed over to them with due justification by the ticket checking staff. Therefore RPF staff shall not do any ticket checking of passengers on their own," the letter said.