If you have ever travelled by Indian railways, you might have noticed a red handle hanging overhead next to a sign that says, “To stop train, pull chain”. But most of us forget to read the penalty and precautionary measures written next to it before attempting to do so.
Let me refresh your memory.
It says you will be penalised for using it ‘without reasonable and sufficient cause.’ But some people often fail to pay heed to such warnings and take ‘rules are made to be broken’ too seriously.
Manish Arora, a 32-year-old Delhi-based resident thought it was a good idea to stop the train so that his mother can peacefully complete her breakfast. He decided to pull the emergency chain to forcefully stop the New Delhi-Habibganj Shatabdi Express at Mathura Junction as his mother did not complete her breakfast.
Of course, this wasn’t reason enough to halt a running train to buy some time hence, Arora has been booked by Mathura railway protection force.
According to the Times of India, Arora was booked under section 141 of the Railways Act (needlessly interfering with means of communication in a train). He was later given ‘bail’ by RPF station and was asked to appear in front of railway magistrate on a given date.
Station house officer of RPF Mathura, C B Prasad, told TOI, “During questioning, Manish Arora claimed that his mother was having breakfast when our destination, Mathura Junction, arrived. However, the train started leaving the station even before she could finish her breakfast. As I could not step on to the platform along with my mother and relative from the moving train, I decided to pull the chain.”
As reported, nearly Rs 6 lakh has been recovered from passengers as penalty for pulling train chains over trivial issues.
While passengers continue to crib over the fact that trains fail to reach their destination on time, there are some who do not really care.
So the next time your train arrives late, the reason might be someone sitting right next to you.