Cops assault TTE in Jammu-bound Archana Express AC coach in UP

LUCKNOW: A train ticket examiner (TTE) was allegedly assaulted by policemen inside an AC coach of Jammu-bound Archana Express on Tuesday afternoon, after the TTE asked a cop traveling in civil uniform from Varanasi to either buy ticket of AC coach or disembark from the train.
By the time this report was filed, Archana Express was yet to reach Lucknow, to where Sandeep Singh was heading to file a written complaint against the unidentified cops.
Speaking to TOI, Sandeep, who is a chief ticket inspector (CTI), said, “I was assaulted inside the A2 (AC2) coach after the train reached Pratapgarh railway station at around 3.30pm.”
Narrating the sequence of events, he said, “I was checking tickets of the passenger, when I came across a ticketless passenger inside the A2 coach. I asked him to pay for the ticket and the passenger replied that he is a constable. I again asked him to either pay for the ticket or alight from the train following which he engaged in a heated argument and threatened me for consequences once the train reached Pratapgarh. The passenger was traveling from Varanasi junction.”
“Meanwhile I received a distress emergency call from a 77-year-old woman passenger who was complaining of diarrhea. So I left the ticketless passenger and went to attend the septuagenarian. I alerted Pratapgarh station to be on standby for a diarrhea patient. I was with the woman passenger till the train reached Pratapgarh. However I had no idea that men in khakee were waiting to assault me. As soon as the train halted, men in uniform boarded A2 coach and came toward me along with the ticketless cop. After a brief talk which lasted less than 30 seconds, they started assaulting me. The train passengers were witnesses of the attack,” he said.
He alleged that the train which has five-minute halt at Pratapgarh did not receive green signal until the unruly cops alighted from the train. The train halted at platform number 1.
After the incident, Sandeep made a distress call to railways control, following which cops from GRP and RPF came to take his statement at Amethi railway station.
“I’ll identify the cops if they are paraded in front of me for identification,” said Sandeep (47).
Meanwhile, speaking on the incident, Sanjeev Kumar Sinha, the circle officer of Lucknow division GRP, said, “By the time SHO, GRP, Pratapgarh could reach A2 coach, the train had departed. Prima facie it has been found that TTE was indeed assaulted. Therefore I have instructed GRP Lucknow to lodge an FIR as soon as they receive a copy of the written complaint from Sandeep Singh.”
“If the involvement of GRP is found in the incident, then no cop would be spared,” added Sinha.
Earlier on Monday, a two-minute-long video went viral in which UP police cops were confronted by TTE for traveling without ticket in Amarnath Express.
In the video, a police man was found intimidating the TTE.
Speaking to TOI, CPRO, NER, Pankaj Kumar said, “Considering such unruly behavior of policemen who travel without ticket in trains and then misbehave with TTE, we have written to GRP to take appropriate against all cops whether civil police or railway police in case they don’t follow railway rules while traveling in train.”
“We have also asked TTE to immediately inform control in case cops misbehave with them,” he added.