BENGALURU, 14 MAY

South Western Railway's (SWR) Railway Protection Force (RPF) rescued 22 children who were lost in railway stations under its jurisdiction in April. Under the mission titled ‘Nanhe Farishtey’ (an initiative to rescue children who are lost or separated from their families), RPF rescued 18 boys and four girls and reunited them with their families.

In a separate incident, 24 people were arrested under section 143 of Railways Act and tickets valued over Rs 13 lakh were seized under ‘Uplabdh’, an initiative to prevent unauthorised passengers from entering trains. Additionally, more than 50kg of ganja valued at Rs 49 lakh were seized and three people were arrested. They were handed over to Commercial Tax/Excise Department under the operation NARCOS which was a month-long drive launched by RPF in June 2022 to curb the smuggling of narcotics through Indian Railways.

In 37 different instances, RPF recovered several leftover and stolen items such as laptops, mobiles, gold/silver ornaments, and other personal belongings with a total value of Rs 16.8 lakh and returned them to their owners. Three individuals were arrested for crimes against passengers and handed over to GRP/police concerned, under operation ‘Yatri Suraksha’, which is a pan-India initiative by RPF to improve passenger security in Indian Railways.

A total of 961 liquor bottles valued at Rs 8 lakh were seized on 49 different occasions and handed over to Excise Department. Besides, six cases were registered under Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act 1966 and 16 accused people were arrested. Additionally, 2,602 cases were registered under Railways Act, leading to the arrest of 2,574 offenders. A fine totalling Rs 4.19 lakh was collected from the offenders.

RPF also enhanced the security of women passengers travelling alone by collecting the seat numbers of the women passengers and monitoring them throughout the journey and even helping them with transportation upon reaching their destination, under the operation ‘Meri Saheli’, a statement said. -Salar News