Railway Protection Force

The maintenance and security of Railways, the vital artery of national communication and economic progress has been a major concern of the Government of India that goes back to the times when the Railway commenced their operations in India in 1854. Since railways have a linear territory traversing inter-state lines, a foolproof security system has been hard to provide. Nevertheless, the genesis of such an endeavor can be traced back to 1854 when East Indian Railways employed certain staff designated as ‘Police’ to denote its own force by enacting the Police Act, 1861 and deployed a contingent for the security of the railway with the owner companies bearing their upkeep. The Railway Companies exercised full control over the Police Force.[5]

On the recommendation of Railway Police Committee, 1872, the Railway Police was organized into the Government Railway Police (the precursor of GRP) for law enforcement, and "Company Police" (the precursor of RPF) for Watch and Ward duties in railways. The actual separation of duties came into effect in 1881. By 1882, as a result of the formal division of the Police Force deployed on the railways into "Government Police" and "Private (Companies) Police", the Railway Companies directly assumed the responsibility of protection and security of their property as well as of the goods entrusted to them by the public for carriage. For this, they appointed "Chowkidars" for various departments and placed them under control of their local departmental heads. With an increase in commercial traffic and the consequential steep rise in the incidence of theft of goods entrusted to railways for carriage, the "Chowkidar" system was reorganized after the first World War onto Watch & Ward organization under a single superior officer designated as Superintendent, Watch & Ward – a system which continued up to 1954. Thus the Railway Police Administration functioned under three different systems viz the district system, as a part of District Police; the provincial system, for each province and the Railway Administration system, separate Railway Police for each Railway Administration in spite of recommendations of Indian Police commission, 1902–1903. The provincial system found acceptance on the recommendation of Railway Police Committee, 1921 and the present GRP came into existence. The Company Police evolved into the present RPF in 1957, passing through the "Watch and Ward" phase from 1872 to 1954, and as "Railway Security Force" from 1954 to 1956. The RPF was also given limited legal powers under the Railway Stores (Unlawful Possession) Act.

Thus, for a full 100 years, the Force, though being used for providing security to the vital artery of national communication and economic progress, did not itself have any legislative status. Therefore, the Government instituted a special inquiry through Director, Intelligence Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs) who in his report in 1954 forcefully brought out the necessity of organizing the Watch & Ward on a statutory basis. The Railway Board also appointed a Security Adviser to the Railway Board in July 1953 to work out the details for the reorganization of the Watch & Ward department. It was decided in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs that there should be an integrated, well-organized force on the model of the police with adequate supervisory staff specially trained to meet the particular aspects of crime that were relevant to railway property, and to work in close collaboration and act as a second line to the States Police with whom, under the Constitution, policing on railways rested. This led to the R.P.F. Bill for the better protection and security. It was only on 29 August 1957 that a Railway Protection Force Act was enacted by the Parliament and Railway Security Force was renamed as Railway Protection Force. The RPF Rules were made on 10 September 1959 and RPF Regulations were formulated in 1966. In the meantime in 1962 "Special Emergency Force" has been raised from the existing strength of RPF during Chinese Aggression, which was especially entrusted to the task to protect trains in border districts. In 1965 it has been renamed as "Railway Protection Special Force" (RPSF). In 1966 RPF has been given legal powers for better protection of Railway property by enacting Railway Property (Unlawful Possession) Act.

But, while the provisions of the RPF Act were soon found wanting for the maintenance of an effective and disciplined Force, the RPF Rules and Regulations too were found judicially unsound. The RPF Act, 1957 was accordingly modified by Parliament vide Act No.60 of 1985 on 20 September 1985 for the constitution and maintenance of the Force as an armed force of the Union. For carrying out the purposes of the Act, RPF Rules 1987 was framed.

The percentage of women in the RPF is the highest among all central paramilitary forces in India. It stands at 10% as of March 2019.[6]