As Ajmal Ameer Kasab and Abu Dera Ismael Khan sprayed bullets all over the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) railway station on the night of November 26, Railway Protection Force’s Head Constable Jillu Yadav grabbed a rifle from a Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel and returned fire.

Yadav had little choice. Only half a dozen of the 34 RPF men deployed at the CST that day were carrying weapons. Not just that, none of the RPF head constables and constables on duty had any weapon on them. These men are issued weapons but because of the fact that the .303 rifles and carbines they are equipped with are considered so bulky that the force, in an unwritten norm, wants its men not to carry them in passenger areas as it may hinder their task of maintaining “order”.

Head Constable Jillu Yadav may have shown exemplary courage in snatching a gun from his GRP colleague to fire back, even earning a Rs 10 lakh award from Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav later, but his brave act has now brought his force, which expects unarmed head constables and constables to guard places like CST, under the scanner.

The RPF Headquarters in New Delhi have been in a huddle ever since the Mumbai siege ended. “The armed component in our deployment in railway stations needs to be increased. Presently, only 10 per cent of our men carry weapons in railway stations. We need to increase it to atleast 30-40 per cent,” admitted a senior RPF officer.

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