[Resolved]  Railway officials — harassment by railway officials

I booked my tatkal ticket for the first time over the internet from Pune to Hyderabad. Post (and not pre) booking the ticket mentioned I needed to carry an original photo ID. Being an NRI, my passport was the only eligible ID. My passport was in Hyderabad as I travelled by bus from Hyd to Pune (no tickets were available through Indian Railways). I presented a photocopy of my passport to the TC, who used the opportunity to become aggressive. I was informed by everyone I spoke to, including co-passengers travelling with me that a photo identity will suffice and they have been permitted with photocopies as proof. In fact, my own relations in India use only photocopies to prove their identity. I was travelling with my daughters and yet the TC behaved as if we were criminals travelling without a ticket. The ticket was provided to the TC, but he insisted we pay an additional Rs.1, 050/- per ticket.

At midnight, the TC came with a supervisor - one Mr. Iyer - and two railway police and they started harrassing me. I informed them that I would be able to provide them with originals at destination but they refused. They started asking me for various details including address and our station of disembarkation
which I gave them. The TC was so aggressive (a short black man with curly hair, spectacles and a very nasty attitude) that he actually took the trouble to call up Begumpet station at 3 am in the morning to inform them to deny us exit at Begumpet. I wish all real criminals would be handled like this in India. Why do we have terrorist attacks?????????

In the morning, as soon as we landed the railway officials escorted us into the booking office and demanded that we pay Rs.3, 700+ as penalty. This amount varied from what the TC said, but the official provided no logical clarification. We showed them our original passports but they refused to oblige. We asked them to provide us the details of calculation and they refused. We asked them to show us the clauses under which we were being threatened and they refused. We informed them to state in their acknowledgment receipt that we had provided passport copies but they refused. The officer was neither dressed in uniform nor did he bear any designation. My 73 year old father who came to the station was made to sit in the booking office unless we paid up. The booking staff threatened to take me and my daughters to custody if we did not pay up. I am attaching a photo of the time in the booking office, Begumpet.

The toilets in the AC 3 tier compartment by which we travelled were stinking, the train was late but nobody cared. All they cared about was collecting money from an authentic passenger by quoting a dubious rule that is informed to the passenger AFTER purchasing the ticket and not BEFORE! If the railways wants a photo identity, please provide one at your counters. I refuse to travel with ORIGINAL passports just because some railway official wants to make money out of a dubious rule requiring identity verification. I am attaching a photo of our experience in the Begumpet booking office. The railway employee got scared when I took the photo and turned his back promptly. He is in the checked shirt. At the bottom is the picture of my father's greying head.

I would like to know what avenues are available to passengers to tackle such corrupt railway officials, who misuse a clause to make money. I understand that the railways treat the travel without an original identity as a ticketless travel -- But in this case a photo identity was provided with assurance that originals would be presented at destination. The railways should ask the traveller if he has an original identity before booking the ticket, or a common sensical approach should be applied at the time of verification, or the railways should provide its own identity card to travellers. Nothing sensible was done. All we witnessed was the crass cashing in of an opportunity to make money.