Consider manning AFC gates at all stations: HC to DMRC

The DMRC was today asked by the Delhi High Court to consider manning its exit gates at all the stations after some incidents of people going missing from there was brought to the court's attention.
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and A K Pathak said such measures of manning the automatic fare collection (AFC) exit gates were also necessary for the security of the metro system.
It also asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and the Metro Police to file affidavits containing data of last three years with regard to persons going missing while taking rides on metro trains.

"The Delhi Metro should consider, in the wake of such incidents (of persons going missing from metro stations), the desirability of manning the AFC gates at all metro stations so that children, disabled or vulnerable persons and those without tickets are checked while exiting.
"Such measures are also necessary from the point of view of security of the metro system," the bench said.
The direction was issued in a habeas corpus matter initiated by the court itself after it came across a news report that a speech-and-hearing impaired 19-year-old woman had gone missing after getting separated from her family and exited at the wrong station.

In this matter where the woman is yet to be traced, the bench transferred the investigation to the anti-human trafficking unit of the Delhi Police.

The step was taken after senior standing counsel for Delhi government Rahul Mehra told the bench that the Metro Police, presently probing the case, does not have the manpower to properly investigate it.
Mehra in his status report also told the court that all the efforts, including the use of social media, made by them till date have failed to trace the woman.
The court had on the last date said that social media should be used in all missing persons' cases without fail and that too immediately after such an incident.

Meanwhile, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is tasked with the security of metro stations, told the bench that as per CCTV footage, the 19-year-old woman had exited the AFC gates by "tailgating" another passenger.
The woman was successful on her third such attempt and managed to exit without a ticket, the CISF told the court.
The CISF, represented by central government standing counsel Anil Soni, said the force was only concerned with screening passengers and their baggage prior to entry into the platform.
The DMRC said the sensors on the AFC gates do not detect when two persons exit in such a manner.

It also said that the AFC exit gates are manned in only those stations where there is a heavy rush of passengers.
In response to this, the bench observed that if the AFC exit gates were manned only at heavy rush stations, then the DMRC was "losing out on the security aspect".
The court also said it could also enable ticketless persons to exit or enter the station and ride on the metro.
During the hearing today, an application was sought to be moved on behalf of a man whose 17-year-old mentally challenged daughter went missing after she boarded the metro from Rithala station here more than a year ago. The girl is yet to be traced, the man's lawyer told the bench.

The court asked the lawyer to file the application so that it can be placed on record.
It also directed the Delhi Police to file a status report regarding its investigation to trace out the 19-year-old woman and listed the matter for hearing on July 14.
On April 21, the woman was travelling with her family and could not get down with them at the Jahangirpur Metro Station. As per the CCTV camera footage at the next metro station at Adarsh Nagar, the woman had got down and exited the station but has been missing since then.
The woman's mother was quoted in the report as saying that they were returning home from LNJP Hospital after a routine check-up of the woman when she had gone missing.