Metro suicide: Guards had 'little or no time to react'

Bengaluru: Security guards had "little or no time" to react and prevent the suicide of 19-year-old NLSIU student Dhruv Jatin Thakkar at the Attiguppe metro station on March 21, a senior official in the BMRCL insisted. 

This was the second suicide in 13 years of metro operations in the city. 

On Sunday, fresh CCTV footage showed the disturbing chain of events leading to the tragedy. It dispelled the earlier notion that the teenager had jumped before an oncoming train. 

The footage showed that the student — dressed in a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans — had stood in a far corner of the platform, waiting for the train's arrival. About 15 seconds before the train pulled in, he got down onto the track and lay across. A woman passenger on the other platform saw him and walked hurriedly, apparently shouting. But before anything could be done, the train pulled in and ran him over. 

BMRCL and police officials said his body was found with the head severed. 

The footage suggested that metro guards failed to monitor the student's movements, especially how he was allowed to stand in the no-go area and how the guards didn't see him getting down onto the track. 

A senior official in the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) asserted that "it was nearly impossible" for guards to react. 

According to the official, both guards at the platform were busy streamlining the crowd. "It happened so quickly that even the nearest guard had no time to react. His view was blocked by other people standing on the platform," the official told DH. 

The official said guards could respond if someone accidentally fell on the track, but "someone positioned in a far corner, it's practically impossible to deter them".  

The official clarified that the student did not stand in one place for too long nor was he "anywhere close to the yellow line" for the guards to stop him. 

To prevent such incidents in the future, the BMRCL plans to post more guards on the platform, but this will lead to increased costs. Two guards are usually posted on one platform, while busier stations get more security. 

The official said the BMRCL also increased programmes to train guards in studying passenger behaviour.