The Railway Protection Force has detained a man for plugging in an electric kettle into a mobile phone charging outlet of a moving train to boil some water. The man was booked and produced before a court after the incident, reported The Times of India.
The 36-year-old man was travelling on the Mahabodhi Express from Gaya to New Delhi on Saturday and was presented in front of a court in Aligarh, an RPF official told the newspaper. For his offence, he was booked under Section 147 (1) under the Railway Act.
The accused man, who was hailed from Leh, had to pay a fine of ₹1,000 for his actions, and was let off by the authorities and the court with a warning.
Plugging in a kettle of a device of high voltage is extremely dangerous inside a moving train and could have triggered a short circuit, leading to a major fire outbreak in the train’s AC III coach.
This incident comes days after two men were booked and arrested in Aligarh for setting up a bonfire inside a moving train because they were “feeling cold”. The two were arrested by the RPF, and had to pay a hefty charge.
RPF post commander Rajeev Verma told TOI, “During the interrogation, the man told us that there was an elderly woman, around 70 years old, who was looking for warm water to take medicine. He had asked pantry car staff for water but according to him, they refused. So he decided to boil the water himself.”
This incident was reported ten days after two passengers aboard the Sampark Kranti Express train running from Delhi to Assam were arrested on Aligarh railway station for putting the lives of thousands of passengers at risk by lighting a bonfire inside the moving train.
The two passengers, hailing from a village in Haryana, were burning dung cakes inside the train coach to “beat the cold”, on January 5.
