Letter to Delhi Metro demanding “Male-Only” coaches

December 2, 2010
By

To,
The General Manager
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.
Metro Bhawan
Fire Brigade Lane, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi – 110001, India

Sub: Demand for Male-Only coaches in Delhi Metro in wake of violence against men in metro.

Respected Sir/Madam,

National Coalition for Men (NCFM), India is the India division of National Coalition for Men, the oldest men’s rights organization in the United States of America. NCFM, India is responsible for creating awareness about how sex discrimination affects men and boys and is actively involved in lobbying with the various government agencies for issues pertaining to male abuse and men’s rights.

Recently, there have been some disturbing media reports about how innocent men have been beaten up in Delhi Metro on November 26, 2010 and thereafter the incident repeated itself in many places including Gurgaon. And the reason cited for that is that the male passengers had alighted the coaches reserved for women.

It is extremely disturbing to mention here that this is the worst kind of treatment that can be meted out to men in society. And it was not only public bashing of men, but they were also made to squat and humiliated badly. Moreover, media covered this whole gruesome incident of mass male abuse as a BOLD act of Women Empowerment.

This is direct promotion of violence against men and is extremely sad to know that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is silent on this issue. While your good office might have many a valid reasons to introduce reservations for women, certain practical problems arising due to the reservation have been overlooked.

The problems being:

  1. Despite being awarded the luxury of a reserved coach and reserved seats in non-reserved coaches, most of the time it has been observed that women occupy the general seats as the reserved seats/coaches go empty. This creates a lot of pressure for men to get seats.
  2. Secondly many passengers are still not aware of the reservation of coaches and enter reserved coaches inadvertently.
  3. More men use the metro during office hours than women.

All the above practical problems are purely administrative in nature and innocent men being bashed up in public, treated worse than criminals and humiliated on media is not something a sane society would tolerate.

Such a treatment against men is downright sexist and anti-human in nature.

Hence, in light of the above incident, NCFM, India demands that:-

  1. DMRC must ensure that the male passengers get a safe and secure traveling environment and for that DMRC must provide coaches meant only for men.
  2. DMRC must look into this matter and investigate as to why the innocent men were beaten up unnecessarily.
  3. DMRC must suspend all security staff on duty on the day of the incident when men were beaten up pending the investigation.
  4. DMRC must ensure that information about reservation of coaches is broadcast properly.
  5. DMRC must publish a public apology for failing to protect male passengers.

We do hope and believe that DMRC will take positive steps to ensure that men are treated fairly in metros and not subjected to violence for no fault of theirs.

Thanks and Regards

India Liaison Officer
National Coalition for Men, India

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