From 80 a day to just 20: Railway cases plunge 75% after fines doubled, tripled
Kozhikode: With the fine amounts for violations in railway stations and trains being doubled and tripled, the number of cases has dropped to one-fourth.
The number of cases in the Honorary Special Second Class Railway Magistrate Court in Kozhikode has decreased to one-fourth within a span of one and a half months. From January to June this year, between 1,008 and 1,610 cases came before the court for consideration.
The order increasing the fine amounts came into effect on July 1. Consequently, that month saw the number drop to 446 cases. The daily cases arriving at the court also decreased to a fourth. While earlier from January to July about 80 cases came in daily, it dropped to 20 in July.
Apart from this court, violation cases are also considered in special camp sittings held at stations including Parappanangadi, Feroke, Koyilandy, Vadakara, Thalassery, Kannur, and Kasaragod. The situation is no different there. In the camp sittings held at Vadakara, Kannur, and Kasaragod railway stations, where previously over a hundred cases used to come up for consideration, only 10-20 cases have been arriving since July.
Even past the middle of August, the cases have remained low. Until the 18th of this month, only 10-15 cases per day reached the railway court. The court handles procedures related to law violation cases in stations from Tanur to Manjeswaram in the Malabar region. The court formed for the Malabar region operates on the third platform of the Kozhikode station.
The railway has doubled and tripled the fines for various violations, including travelling without a ticket, travelling in reservation compartments without proper tickets, crossing railway tracks, entering women's compartments, behaving aggressively in compartments, travelling in coaches meant for differently-abled persons without permission, and travelling while sitting on the footboard of a train. The fine for ticketless travel alone has been raised from Rs 250 to Rs 500.