Bus conductors now free to kick out unruly passengers

Bus conductors now free to kick out unruly passengers

TN govt set to amend MV rules as women harassment cases increase

Published: 25th December 2021 06:39 AM 

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Due to multiple cases of women being harassed in a bus, the transport department has now empowered the drivers and conductors to alight passengers who sing or make inappropriate gestures towards women commuters.

On Thursday, the home transport department released a draft gazette notification amending the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 with respect to sections 28 & 38 of the Motor Vehicle Act 1988 on the responsibilities of the driver and conductor. The amendments will come into force within 30 days from the date of draft publication.

So far there was no provision to act against travellers who annoy other commuters. Now, motor vehicles provisions under the responsibilities of driver and conductors of stage carriage vehicles (bus) have been amended, enhancing their powers to regulate the behaviour of occupants. This will allow them to evict those who annoy other commuters. Ensuring the smooth operation of the bus is a responsibility of driver and conductor,” said a senior transport official.

The amendment also restricted the bus crew from questioning or touching women travellers. “The bus crew shall not make any physical contact or touch women commuters under the pretext of assisting them to board or deboard. The driver or conductor shall not behave in a way annoying women travellers,” the notification read. The regulations come in wake of a series of recent incidents and repeated complaints from women that they were often humiliated by the bus crew while travelling in ordinary buses where they are allowed to travel for free.

On December 7, an elderly woman in Kanniyakumari who sells fish was deboarded from a government bus as she smelled of fish. Similarly, a Narikurava family had also faced discrimination at the hands of the bus crew. On December 10, the driver and conductor of a TNSTC bus in Villupuram were arrested on the charges of attempting to molest a woman on the bus. The conductor and driver are now bound to comply with these regulations and any deviations will be perceived as dereliction of duty which could lead to departmental action, added the official.

Arumuga Nainar, General Secretary of Transport Employees Federation affiliated to the CITU, said “What is the necessity for amending the rules to punish the driver or conductor while there were regulatory guidelines in force? In ordinary buses, women commuters are reluctant to purchase price-less tickets which led to an altercation in a few places. In such cases, conductors issued a memo for causing loss to transport corporations.”

The transport employees association will study the amendments in detail and represent it to the government, added Nainar.