No duty passes to cops affects convictions: GRP

Lawyers defending those involved in offences against women in local trains, have been seeking respite for the accused in courts based on a mere technicality, the police complained.

Sources in the Government Railway Police (GRP) said often the accused get away without being punished despite their personnel preventing a crime, taking the accused into custody and filing a first information report, as lawyers manage to present a successful argument that the personnel was not present at the place of offence as he cannot produce a railway duty pass to prove it.

“The defence lawyers argue that as the concerned policeman cannot produce a railway duty pass, valid ticket, valid railway pass or platform ticket, the personnel was not present at the crime scene,” said a GRP source, requesting anonymity.

Railway duty passes are issued by railway authorities and are given only to senior GRP inspectors, another official explained.

They are fourpage authorisation booklets that validate a GRP personnel’s presence on railway premises.

An identity card is not sufficient to authenticate the individual’s presence, said sources.

“If you consider it, all GRP personnel patrolling stations and manning compartment are present there illegally. This point is exploited by defence lawyers.”