Caught in a mesh

The menace of stone-throwing at passing trains is far from over as the tragic death of a five-year old boy from Mumbai travelling on the Nagercoil Express shows. This is the second fatal incident in five years during which there have been many serious injuries as well such as, in one case at least, the loss of a passenger's eye. A sense of helplessness in the face of utterly random violence prevails but there has been some official effort to put a stop to it. A few bogeys on suburban trains have their windows covered with wire mesh. This makes a few passengers feel secure; the majority of bogeys trundle on without protection. Where information has been available on suburban lines -- and it has been scanty at best -- the railway and Mumbai police have both warned slumdwellers suspected to be the culprits and tried to attend to their complaints in turn about being at the receiving end of missiles hurled from trains. But preventive measures have been few and far between. Punishing stone-throwers would, ofcourse, be an effective deterrent if, and it is a big if, stone-throwers can be caught. Most cases investigated have been closed for lack of evidence. Trying to find a motive for stone-throwing is what presents the worst dilemma for law enforcement agencies. It is almost always a chance incident with no connection whatever between culprit and victim. There is usually no general animus between those on the ground and those riding trains. They could be the acts of irresponsible adolescents. So what can be done? In cities, creating a cordon sanitaire on both sides of suburban lines is not feasible. In rural areas it is futile as seen from the fact that the train carrying Hari Kailasam Karwad, the little boy killed on Wednesday, was speeding through open and reportedly deserted farm land. The circumstances of this particular incident might well raise the question of whether an object dislodged from the roof of the train hurtled through the window and hit the child. The railways should look into that possibility.Keeping windows shut is out of the question for all but those who travel in air-conditioned comfort. So regardless of the expense, the railways may have to consider wire meshing all windows. Riding in barricaded trains is a horrendous thought but what are the other options?

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