A Fine Fraud

Crossing railway tracks on foot is an offence under the Railway Act, but it’s rarely enforced on Mumbai’s suburban railway.

Crossing railway tracks on foot is an offence under the Railway Act, but it’s rarely enforced on Mumbai’s suburban railway. Kurla station, a prominent train terminus, was an exception. For years, track trespassers were arrested by Railway Protection Force personnel, taken to a summary court nearby, and made to pay a fine. Except that the court is fake. The judge was a head constable and the documents given to offenders were forgeries. The targets were selected with care and only those who looked like they would immediately pay a fine were arrested. The court was busted in 2009 when an RPF policeman not involved in the racket smelt a rat. But sources say it continued to function at different venues near the railway station. Last week, a PIL filed by activist Samir Zaveri demanding a CBI inquiry into the scam was admitted by the Bombay High Court. “A high level probe has to be instituted into this,” Zaveri said.

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Haima Deshpande