CHENNAI: It is bad scene for the elderly at many of the MRTS stations. They have more than age going against them. Characters who can aptly be clubbed under the word ‘Thug’ have the run of these stations, pouncing on the old and targeting the vulnerable. A complaint lodged at the Triplicane Railway Station tells the tale.
The thugs stalk young women returning from work and beat up and rob the elderly. On November 6, around 50 senior citizens decided enough was enough after another one of them had been targeted by the thugs a day earlier.
Kotturpuram resident E K Aravamudan, Managing Director of an advertising company, was beaten up by anti-socials operating out of Triplicane MRTS station. When his friend N Parthasarathy came to his rescue he too was meted out the same treatment.
Accompanied by about 50 other senior citizens of Friends Society, a religious and socio-cultural organisation, the two friends filed a complaint with the railway authorities.
Parthasarathy says he has witnessed incidents of girls being stalked and harassed by ruffians at MRTS stations. “The girls reach out to senior citizens for help. But most of us who are in our late fifty’s or are over 60 find it impossible to give them any protection.”
Sangeetha, a private firm employee, says, “Journey by MRTS after dusk has become a nightmare.”
Curiously, RPF personnel say they themselves are at risk.
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