The pathetic conditions of safety on Patna-bound trains became evident when a woman IAS officer posted in the State’s Home Department was ‘molested’ during her journey. And shockingly,  the perpetrator of the crime was a senior IPS officer himself.
P J Rawal, a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) posted at Railway Protection Force (RPF) in New Delhi tried to molest fellow passenger Vandana Preysi, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, who was travelling in the AC first class coach of New Delhi-Patna Sampoornakrnati Express in the wee hours of Monday. Vandana was accompanied by her sister Sujata Preysi, whose husband is a Punjab cadre IPS officer.
When the two sisters were taking a siesta, the DIG came out of the coupe to have a drink.
Already in “high spirits”, the Deputy Inspector General  then fell down on Vandana. As the Deputy Inspector General tried to molest her, the two sisters joined hands and gave the RPF officer a good thrashing.
Case registered
The two gutsy women not only took away his mobile and identity card, but also registered a case at the GRP police station against the IPS officer after getting down at Patna junction.
The Deputy Inspector General , who was in Patna on an official visit, refused to talk to the media, but Vandana, took the matter up with the higher ups.
Home Commissioner Afzal Amanaullah was quick to order a probe and a copy of it was forwarded to the Railway headquarters in Delhi where the Deputy Inspector General PJ Rawal is posted.
Lalu’s clean chit
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who was in Patna on Tuesday canvassing support for United Progressive Alliance presidential nominee Pratibha Patil, however, gave a clean chit to Rawal.
“DG M K Sinha has informed me that no such incident ever took place,”  Lalu said.
Taking umbrage over Lalu’s clean chit, Bihar JD (U) president Lalan Singh said it was very unfortunate that the Railway Minister had taken the matter  lightly.
“Since the case involved a woman IAS officer, the accused Deputy Inspector General  should have been given a punishment that would have served as a deterrent to any potential mischief-maker,” argued Singh.