LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) police have arrested a Shalimar Express driver and his assistant for allegedly allowing two transpersons to travel in the train’s locomotive unlawfully and making a video, that later went viral on social media, damaging the department’s repute in terms of train operations and passengers’safety.
The PR police have also arrested the transpersons and produced them along with the driver and his assistantbefore the court that sent them to jail on a judicial remand on Friday.
‘This incident happened in the wee hours of Nov 5 when the Shalimar Express driver and his assistant allowed two transpersons to unlawfully travel in the locomotive. During their journey, one of thetranspersons filmed the other while he was asleep on the assistant driver’s seat, using inappropriate language. They [transpersons] later shared the video on a social media platform,’ PR’s Raiwind Station House Officer (SHO) Amir Fareed told Dawn on Friday.
‘We saw this video on November 11 and arrested the driver, his assistant and both transpersons the next day.
Later, we produced them before the court that sent them to jail on a judicial remand,’ he says, terming the episode shameful.
According to the first information report (FIR), SHO Fareed was on duty at the railways’ Raiwind police helpline counter on November 11 when he came to know about the video that went viral on social media.
The police examined the video thoroughly and collected information about the train driver, his assistant and the two transpersons.
During the preliminary investigation, the police came to know that the train (27-Up, Shalimar) reached Sahiwal station at about 11:20pm and departed for Lahore at about 11:25pm on November 4. Assoon as the train departed, the driver, Imtiaz Ahmad, and assistant driver, Saglain Haider, allowed two transpersons -Ali Ahmad alias Hania and Muhammad Ali alias Ali Jan -residents of Kasur district, to travel with them in the engine No 9016 to Raiwind.
The FIR says that during the journey, Ali Ahmad alias Hania made a video of Ali Jan, while he was asleep on the seat of the assistant driver and the video was later shared on social media by both transpersons.
It adds that both the driver and his assistant not only allowed transpersons to travel with them unlawfully, but also put the passengers’ safety at risk, whereas the transpersons damaged the department’s repute by sharing the video on social media.
‘After registering the FIR, we first arrested the driver and assistant driver and then both transpersons. Later, we produced them before the court that sent them to jail on judicial remand,’ the SHO said.
He said the case was registered against the suspects under sections 101, 113 and 120 of the Railway Act and Section 34/500 of the Pakistan Penal Code.