Sub: Public Interest Litigation Date: 28/02/2012 From Madhavan Namboothiri. M Neelamana, TC 55/11, Vishnu nagar, pappanamcode P.O Trivandrum. To The Chief Justice Honorable High Court of Kerala Sub: Public Interest Litigation Sir The Railways has banned drunk travelling on Kerala trains as it receives regular complaints, especially from women, over fights caused by drunk passengers passengers in compartments. compartments. Not Not only only while while travelling, travelling, but but even even being being on railway platforms after consuming alcohol has also been prohibited. Passengers will not be able to continue their journey as their tickets will be cancelled. In addition to this, revellers will be slapped with a fine of Rs500 (Dh37) or sent to jail for six months. months. If the offender offender is a Railway employee, the jail term will be one year. So far, only drinking on trains has been banned in Kerala. Division Divisional al Security Security Commission Commissioner er K.J. Joy said under under Section Section 145 (A) of the Indian Indian Railway Railway Act, Act, those those found found guilty guilty will will have have to pay a fine fine of Rs500 or go to prison for up to six months. The anti-drunk travelling drive has yielded immediate result, said Joy. He said said 17 peop people le were were caug caught ht on the the Mave Maveli li Expr Expres ess, s, Kann Kannur ur Expr Expres ess, s, Amrita Express, Express, and in central station premises premises in Thrivananthapru Thrivananthapruam am on Thursday, the first day of the operation. Breathanalysers They were subjected to medical tests at the local hospital in Thiru Thiruvan vanant antha hapu puram ram and and will will have have to appear appear befor before e the the railw railway ay court court during its next sitting.
He said that the RPF (Railway Protection Force) personnel are provided with breathalysers to record the level of alcohol in a person's system, vital evidence to be produced in the court. The security commissioner said that the number of complaints was high from night trains, especially from the passengers of the Malabar and the Kannur Express which run only at night. My request to the Honorouble High Court of Kerala his act of Railways is against Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India from the following points. 1. The police is at liberty to test anybody on the platform and train with breath analyser or any other tool. 2.
This public act of analysing the breath leads to defamation of citizens since there is no written procedure to analyze the breath of a person in confidence in public place.
3. This leads to loss of valuable time of the travelling person and if suspected his journey will be affected. Any body can be tortured by misuse of this. 4. This is against Article 19(d) of the Constitution of India 'To move freely throughout the territory of India'. This is NOT a reasonable restriction on the exercise of any of the rights conferred by the said sub-clauses either in the interests of the general public or for the protection of the interests of any Scheduled Tribe. 5.
This is especially defaming a person when he is travelling with family.
6.
“In addition to this, revellers will be slapped with a fine of Rs500 (Dh37) or sent to jail for six months. If the offender is a Railway employee, the jail term will be one year.” Treating railway employee in a different manner is against Article 14 of the Constitution of India.
7. This being against the Constitution of India, may be quashed by the Hon.High court, to see the golden ray of democracy existing in India. Solution suggested Railway can find out some other methods like passing everybody through a “detector mechanism” etc as in the Airports to control drunkards. I humbly request you to accept my email as a Public Interest Litigation for the common cause of the citizens.
Respectfully Madhavan Namboothiri. M Neelamana, TC 55/11, Vishnu Nagar, Pappanamcode P.O Trivandrum.
[email protected] Mob: 09446541067 Date: 28/02/2012
