Crime takes an extended halt at Howrah station

March 12: How safe is Howrah Railway Station, the entry point to Calcutta for most train passengers? Not much, it would seem after allegatio...

March 12: How safe is Howrah Railway Station, the entry point to Calcutta for most train passengers? Not much, it would seem after allegations of a rape in the station complex.

The rape of a visiting Bangladeshi woman, also a district-level Awami League leader, in Yatri Niwas at Howrah station recently opened up a Pandora’s box of a criminal-railway staff-police nexus operating in one of the oldest railway stations in India.

The 27-year-old woman was raped by some touts and railway staff when she came to board a train for Ajmer Sharif. She was looking for some help to get her ticket confirmed. A group of touts, including a commercial supervisor of the station, took her to Howrah station’s Yatri Niwas for food. Once there, they forced her to drink liquor and raped her.

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Later she was promised help and shelter and taken to Pathuriaghata street where she was raped again until the police rescued her after a raid on a tipoff from the local people.

The outcry over the incident exposed the dubious reputationenjoyed by Howrah Station as a centre for such criminal operations. The Calcutta High Court issued a show-cause notice to the Railway Board chairman, Director General of Police and others in connection with a writ petition on the issue.

According to a senior official, some 27 lakh commuters use the station daily. Taking advantage of this number, criminals, vagrants, dishonest railway staff and policemen have turned it into a vice den.

“The rape brought to light that a place like Yatri Niwas could be used for such purpose by violating strict rules in connivance with the staffers,” a senior police officer told The Indian Express

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. As per the rules, it is necessary to have a ticket vouching a minimum 200 km travel in order to be eligible to stay in the Yatri Niwas dormitory. But interrogation of the arrested revealed that one of the touts involved in the crime had been staying in the Yatri Niwas for the last two years or more under different names!

Confirming that this has been going on forlong, the official revealed that the police arrested two couples who bribed their way into one of the rooms “for sexual adventure.” The police believe the station is also being used by criminals who travel in and out at regular intervals from places like Bihar and UP.

“The first thing we will do is identify the corrupt cops and staffers, destroy their network and close the pubs and riverside dhabas where they work out their plans,” he said, explaining the strategy to free Howrah station from the criminals.

Commuters and railwaymen working in the station area dismiss this as empty talk. They allege that the problem is compounded by the policemen who make a tidy income out of illegal activities. As a porter said, “Once the stir over the rape blows over, it will be back to business.”