Delhi HC dismisses plea challenging AAP govt's free metro ride for women scheme

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the AAP government's proposal of making Delhi metro rides free for women.

A division-bench headed by Chief Justice DN Patel and comprising Justice C Harishankar, while dismissing the petition, said that the petition had no substance and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on the petitioner Bipin Bihar Singh.

Singh had contended in his plea that the decision of the Delhi government to give free metro rides to women is "arbitrary" and "discriminatory".

The petition had also sought a direction to the state government to reduce the metro fare. It mentioned that the state government should have considered taking steps to reduce fares in the metro.

"It has hit not only the commuters but has also brought a sharp decrease in metro ridership. It is surprising that such a high fare structure is operational in a transport system which is primarily used by common masses," the plea submitted.

Additionally, it sought directions to the state government to adopt a fare table suggested by the Fare Fixation Committee.

Last month, Kejriwal had announced free ride for women in all Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses, cluster buses and Delhi Metro trains, in order to provide a safe travel experience to them.

He had said that the proposal will be implemented within two to three months based on the feedback and suggestions from the public.