Patna: On Tuesday Railway property worth 3.5 crores turned to dust within hours. The reason: About 50 students from rural colleges of Bihar.
They had boarded the New Delhi-Rajgir Shramjeevi Express. Students with passes are allowed to travel in unreserved coaches of long-distance trains.
One student, however, entered an AC coach and refused to budge
He was beaten up by the government Railway Police. Enraged students stopped the train and set four AC coaches on fire. The passengers somehow escaped.
Rinku, a passenger, said: "This group of boys chased some cops who eventually hid in a train bogey. After that these boys ravaged the trains, smashed glasses and set the AC bogies on fire."
Kshatraneel Singh, Superintendent of Police, Patna (Rural) adds: ''The situation is under control now. The burnt bogies have been removed and the fire has been put off."
The same morning at Lakhisarai a mob blockaded the railway station over the murder of a 25-year-old railway employee.
Superintendent of Police Bibek Raj Singh details the incident: ''We are trying to arrest those responsible for the murder.''
Last month, a mob set a train on fire near Patna as some stops on its route had been cancelled.
The question now: Should these men be treated as criminals. Should these protestors be allowed to get away since it seems that very big and small complaint related to the railways these days results in burning trains.