BENGALURU: A family filed a complaint against a railway official for “harassing and abusing” them for not purchasing platform tickets at the City railway station on Sunday morning. The woman, a mother of two, alleged that Radhakrishnan, a deputy chief ticketing inspector, tried to “overcharge” her family and taunted her by asking if she was a ‘Nepali’, before pushing her. The official attached to the commercial department of the Bengaluru Railway Division has nearly 20 years of experience.
Santhosh Jha, had come along with her husband Naval Kishore Jha and their six-year-old son to see off their elder son, who was going to Chennai to pursue engineering.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, she said, “We were so caught up in the moment that we forgot to purchase platform tickets. After seeing off our son at 6 am, we were walking on Platform One when the official stopped us and asked for our platform tickets. I apologised for not buying the tickets and said that we would pay the fine. He then started hurling expletives us.”
The penalty was Rs 780 for the three of them (Rs 250 each for non-purchase of ticket and the price of three Rs 10 platform tickets), whereas the DTI demanded Rs 950 from them, she alleged. “We had only Rs 550 and my husband repeatedly apologised for it. He started screaming at us using extremely filthy language. He mocked me by asking me if I was a Nepali. My younger son burst out crying. This made me angry and I asked him what he could do to us for our mistake.”
“The official then pushed me from behind. He made us pay a fine of Rs 520, gave us a receipt and let us go. It was our mistake to not purchase tickets, but how can he insult us like this,” she asked. Senior divisional commercial manager, Krishna Reddy, told TNIE, “I have seen the complaint. It does not have the details she claimed. I will counsel him to behave properly with public,” he said.Reddy said that Radhakrishnan was not allowed to speak to the media as per railway rules.