M A I N   N E W S

Daredevilry on trains: Deadly craze sweeps Maximum City
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 3
An amateur video posted online of two young men performing stunts on Mumbai’s local trains has sparked off a deadly craze that has left at least one teen seriously injured. The video posted on YouTube featuring two teenagers hanging precariously from a Mumbai local train, reaching out dangerously to touch electric pylons whizzing by and then skating on a railway platform holding on to the moving train.

The clips, some of which have since been pulled out by YouTube on the request of the Railways, have become a rage with teenagers downloading them on to their mobile phones.

While many teenagers attempting similar stunts have been arrested by the police, one 13-year old sustained severe injuries after he hit an electric pole and fell beside the tracks. The boy, Zahir Ansari, has suffered facial injuries and will have to undergo surgery.

"Luckily, there is no sign of brain damage or other serious injuries,” says Dr Narsingh Mane of St George Hospital where he is admitted.

Online video gives a high to stunt junkies

According to the police, the youths who attempt to replicate the stunts are boys from the lower economic strata living near the train tracks.

"We have caught 16 boys so far and have sent them to the Dongri remand homes," said Commissioner of Government Railway Police (GRP) Prabhat Kumar. One of the boys arrested by Kumar's team was as young as 12 years old.

The police have been asked to watch out for youths performing stunts and arrest them under various provisions of the Indian Railways Act. "Many of these boys have been caught riding in first -class compartments without proper tickets," said Kumar.

Later, all the boys were sent home after their parents were called to the police station to sign personal bonds guaranteeing their wards’ good behaviour.

Meanwhile, regular commuters said there is nothing new about these stunt videos. "Such stunts are common on the harbour branch of the Central Railways," says Anoop Bhandari, who has a business on the Mumbai dockside. He adds that trains on this line are comparatively slower allowing the boys to practice their stunts in the afternoons when there are fewer people commuting.

The police said that the boys filmed doing the stunts call themselves Reay Road Boys after the railway station in South Central Mumbai where they apparently live. These boys haven't been arrested so far though they would be picked up if they attempt similar stunts again, the police claimed.

The police drive has already resulted in altercation between groups of boys and railway officials. Two ticket checkers were beaten up by a group of boys after a boy was nabbed while trying to perform a stunt on the foot board of a train.

According to the police, the boy who was arrested banged his head on a glass pane injuring himself. His friends immediately caught hold of the TCs and thrashed them. Six youths have been taken into custody in this regard.