In a major security breach in the Delhi Metro, a woman managed to carry an axe inside a coach and tried to attack another lady commuter with it.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which secures the Delhi Metro network, has suspended the on-duty jawan, who allowed the woman to carry the small axe, for alleged dereliction of duty and an inquiry into it has been ordered, official sources said.
The incident occurred on Thursday evening at Sultanpur Metro station. The 65-year-old woman wielded the small axe, a masonry tool, inside the coach following a tiff with another lady passenger, they said.
The axe, being carried by the woman, was detected during the X-ray scanning of her bag by the CISF jawan when she entered the Hauz Khas Metro station.
He allowed her to carry the axe considering its small size and her pleas that she is a poor labourer and uses such items for minor work.
“While the axe was detected by the on-duty CISF personnel at the entry of the station itself, he probably considered her age to allow her to take the axe along. He probably also misjudged her plea to let her carry the axe saying she was a poor woman. An enquiry has been ordered,” a senior official said.
The lady, going towards Huda City Centre, got into a quarrel with another woman over seating in the all-women compartment of the train. Enraged after being suggested to take some other seat, she took out the axe but was soon overpowered by other lady passengers, they said.
The CISF later intercepted the old lady, identified as M Dutta, a resident of Gurgaon, and handed her over to the local police which allowed her to go apparently after counselling.
The CISF has taken the incident seriously and sought to beef up security protocols in the metro network which carries almost 26 lakh people daily. Last year, a man had entered the Metro with a country-made pistol and shot himself within the station area. Few months back, a man had killed a woman with a sharp weapon, just before the security hold area at a station in Gurgaon.