Southern Railway has warned passengers that playing music or videos on their phones in speaker mode could cost them Rs 1,000 and get them removed from railway premises, including coaches. The step is aimed at easing the discomfort of travellers bothered by the practice. Repeat or persistent offenders could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to Rs 5,000.
The zone is relying on Section 142 of the Railways Act, as amended by the Jan Vishwas Act, which deals with causing a nuisance. Officials said other railway zones, and even Metro systems, can use the same provision to deal with behaviour that affects the comfort of fellow passengers. Under existing law, creating a nuisance in Metro rail also draws a penalty and can lead to removal from the coach.
Separately, Section 270 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) treats public nuisance as an offence. It covers any act that causes common injury, danger, obstruction or annoyance to people exercising a public right.
In a circular sent to all its divisions earlier this month, with a copy to the Railway Board, Southern Railway described the playing of music or audio through speakers at stations and on trains as a “nuisance”. The circular also recalled a Railway Board communication from July 2012 on mobile phone use, which had pointed to problems such as loud talking, long conversations and objectionable ringtones in coaches, and had asked all zones to raise awareness against them.
The zone said that with mobile internet now widely available, playing videos and other content on speaker in public spaces has become very common, and that arrangements are urgently needed so that passengers are not inconvenienced.
Divisions have been told to educate passengers about the legal provisions and discourage speaker-mode playback and loud conversations on trains and railway premises. Awareness drives are to be run through public address systems in regional languages, Hindi and English. Ticket examiners and senior officials from the commercial division have been authorised to levy the Rs 1,000 penalty on offenders.
