The Tamil Nadu government has amended its Motor Vehicles Act to enhance the safety of passengers, especially women, in public transport. The amendments, passed on August 17, are made in the clause pertaining to duties of a conductor as enshrined in the Act. The amendment provides for strict action against any male passengers who harass others on the bus in any form.
As per the original Motor Vehicles Act, the conductor was not allowed to alight a passenger from a vehicle except “for good and sufficient reasons”. However, according to the amendment, a conductor can either alight a passenger or hand him over to any police station enroute “if any male passenger travelling in the vehicle attempts or makes any obscene act, like, staring, leering, whistling, winking or sexually offensive gestures or singing songs, utter words, take any photos or videos or any other form of electronic communication causing annoyance or harassment of a women passenger or girl, indulging in any other form of misbehaviour with intent to outrage the modesty of the women passengers travelling in the vehicle”.
The amendments also strictly puts in words the proper behaviour expected of conductors. The Act now prohibits conductors from touching any woman passenger “on the false pretext that he is assisting her to get into or getting down the vehicle (sic)”. The conductor is now also barred from asking any inappropriate questions about the “intention of travel of a woman or girl passenger or make any physical contact, sexually coloured remarks/comments/jokes involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures”. Further, the conductor cannot behave in a way that may cause annoyance to any passenger, the amendment to the Act states.
The conductors are also duty bound to remove any male passenger from his seat and ask him to alight from the bus if he has made any sexual overtures to a woman passenger, after a proper inquiry with fellow passengers. The rules also direct the conductor to maintain a complaint book, wherein passengers may record complaints against him if he fails to perform his duties. This complaint book has to be produced before a motor vehicle authority or the police if the need arises.
Further, if a male passenger is found to have sexually harassed any other passengers, the conductor is directed to take the vehicle to the nearest police station and lodge a complaint against the accused passenger.
(With IANS inputs)