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Why doesn't Indian RPF do anything about the transgender/eunuch people demanding money in trains?

3 Answers

I was travelling from Mumbai CST to Pune Junction by Chennai express. In Mumbai, till Kalyan I didn't encounter any transgender. So I was relieved. However after Kalyan I had really bad experience. One group boarded on Kalyan station, second group came on Karjat station, third came in Lonavala. I had to pay all of them. If someone said that we've already paid the earlier group they didn't listen. They said "those are Mumbai groups. We're from Pune." When one of my co-passengers refused to pay, they started removing clothes and showing private parts. Trust me it was a really bad scene. That guy paid in disgust and got rid of it.

He was an officer in LIC. Sometime later a lady in her late 40s boarded in. She was selling Lonavala chikki and other things. This guy liked it very much. He purchased more than 200Rs. Chikki. The lady was happy too for doing such business. So they got into conversation. I was listening to them without they noticing me.

He asked her as to why RPF do not take any action against transgenders harassing passengers.

She told him that all RPF personnel have vested interests. Mostly RPF constables have to deal with them. So they calculate the average business of a transgender person in a month. Usually they take bribe (hafta) of around 700Rs to 2000Rs from each one depending on that transgender person's income. They also fix their route on which they can do their business. So the three groups I encountered were actually paying RPF present at Karjat, Lonavala and Kalyan station respectively. One constable gets bribe from 4–5 transgenders. So overall he gets about 5000 to 8000Rs. on a regular basis that too for 'not doing the job'. Obviously they ignore it.

Even if you take out time and file a complaint to them, there's hardly any action. Instead you'll get a 15 minute lecture on how we should ignore transgenders' acts,How pity life they live and how sympathetic we should be towards them.

Last but not the least, what happens if a transgender refuses to pay the bribe. Well that's something horrible to imagine. RPF constable rape them, do sexual assault and sometimes beat them so much that they can't even walk.

So it's vicious cycle. RPF personnel exploit their powers for personal monetary gains and that is the main reason we don't see any action against transgenders by RPF.