RPF constable Dalvir Singh, who was engaged in January, wanted a long leave to go home to Haryana as his famil... Read More



A young Railway Protection Force cop shot him self with his service rifle , an AK-47, inside the RPF locker room at Mumbai Central station at 9.30pm on Saturday apparently because he was not authorised sufficient leave for an elaborate wedding his family was planning for him.

While constable Dalvir Singh's family alleges that the 23-year-old, who had been engaged in January, was frustrated because he was “deprived of leave“ from March 6, his bosses say he was sanctioned a leave of five days starting March 11, which is what he had asked for.

On Saturday night, before Dalvir was to board the Gujarat Express 12901 on escort duty, he had been talking over phone with his fanily. He squeezed the trigger right after hanging up, investigations revealed.

He shot himself in the chest while sitting on a chair, said an official who visited the RPF reserve company's chamber on the station's ground floor. He was taken to Jag Jeevan Ram Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.

The shooting has enlivened the debate over the long hours and extreme pressures railway cops face, something that the National Human Rights Commission has set up inquiries into in the past.

Western Railway's senior divisional security commissioner, Mumbai Central, Anup Shukla said a department inquiry has been ordered into Dalvir's death, who had been authorised to go on leave for as many days as requested, including the one he took between January 23 and 29 for his engagement.

The Mumbai Central Government Railway Police, who have launched an investigation into the case, have registered an accidental death under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. GRP deputy police commissioner Deepak Deoraj said they will obtain call detail records of Dalvir's phone to establish the events leading up to the shooting.

`On call till he pulled trigger'

The only son among five siblings, Dalvir had joined the RPF in 2014, much to the relief of his father, Rajendra Singh, a farmer in Haryana's Bhiwani district. It was his first posting.“After marrying off his three elder sisters, I was looking forward to my only son's wedding,“ said Rajendra Singh.“We were planning grand celebrations and had asked him to try and take 15-20 days off so we could do all the shopping and hold the ceremonies this month itself. He doesn't get leave that often. But now he is gone, leaving us all in darkness.“

His cousin Manish Singh concluded that not getting enough time off from work was weighing heavily on Dalvir. “We have no other prob lems in the family. This is was the only thing that could be making him anxious,“ Manish said.

Sources known to the constable told Mirror that he was being pressured by his family to come home earlier than March 11 to help make arrangements for the functions.

Reconstructing the events of Sat urday night, police sources said that Dalvir received a call from Rajendra at 9.02 pm. He received one more call from his father's phone, and this time his younger sister, 16 (name withheld), spoke with him. Rajendra said it seemed that he pulled the trigger the moment he hung up on them: “We kept calling him but nobody an swered.“

At Jag Jeevan Ram Hospital, Dalvir's phone, now seized as evidence, kept ringing. The policemen accompanying him dialled back on the number from their phone and when Rajendra answered, they broke the news to him: Dalvir had been declared dead.

Human rights body commissioned report

High stress level among RPF staffers has time and again surfaced as a matter of concern. In 2014, city-based commuter activist Samir Zaveri had written to the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) in New Delhi alerting them to the problem.

The rights panel had then directed the rail authorities to form a committee to study the staff's working conditions, identify factors aggravating them, and suggest remedies. The panel submitted a report in December that year, and Zaveri added his suggestions the following January. Some of these were:

1. Lack of refresher courses and periodical training Remedy suggested: Engage experts for routinely held weeklong training sessions

2. Non-cooperation of GRP, whose officials resist or delay taking charge of offenders arrested under IPC Remedy: Hold coordination meetings; educate staff that action such as filing FIRs is mandatory

3. Poor quality of uniform, delay in its supply No remedy suggested

4. Inaction over staff's grievances Remedy: Timely redressal of staffs' complaints

CLOCKING OFF EARLY

Meanwhile, other nations push for better work-life balance

SWEDEN

Councilman proposes paid breaks to be spent with spouse

A city council member of the Swedish town of Overtornea, on the Arctic Circle, made a proposal last month that he said could improve the health and morale of civil servants in the of only 4,500.Councilman Per-Eric Muskos introduced a proposal to let municipal employees take a paid break each week to go home, and have sex. Hitting the gym, getting a massage, or having lunch is also permitted.

JAPAN

Govt gives workers a break to go shopping

Faced with slack consumption and soul-searching over the notoriously poor work-life balance in the country, the Japanese government is asking companies to allow their workers to leave at 3pm on the last Friday of the month so they can relax with their families -or hit the bars,.

The initiative is part of a wider attempt to address the punishingly long hours many Japanese are expected to work, prompted by the suicide of a 24-year-old employee at the advertising firm Dentsu; she was doing more than 100 hours' overtime in the months before her death.

