New Delhi: To discourage the rising number of incidents of crimes against women on trains, the Railway Police Force (RPF) is considering a three-year jail term for sexually harassing a woman on a train. This will be included in a set of new provisions proposed by the RPF for inclusion in the Railway Act. Currently, such offenders are charged under Section 354 of the IPC, which has a maximum punishment period of one year.

If this provision is passed and the Act amended, then it would be applied instead of the relevant Indian Penal Code section and that the RPF will have the right to apprehend the accused without the help of the Government Railway Police (GRP) unlike earlier where the RPF had no provision to deal with such crimes.

These provisions were suggested so that the RPF can take swift action without the need of assistance from the GRP.

According to statistics provided by the Railway Ministry to the Rajya Sabha, the number of crimes against women travelling in trains has increased by 35 per cent during 2014-2016, with 1,607 such cases registered.