TN govt tweaks MV rules to curb sexual crimes on buses

The new rules will be applicable if male passengers resort to staring, leering, whistling, winking, or making sexually offensive gestures or singing songs, utter words, taking any photos or videos, or any other form of electronic communication causing annoyance or harassment of a woman or girl passenger.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): The Tamil Nadu government made changes in the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules to stop sexual assault in buses and ensure more security for women and girl passengers.

Amendments have been made to the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, bringing in new rules that mandate a bus conductor to alight a male passenger or hand him over to any police station en route if he makes any obscene act. The new rules will be applicable if male passengers resort to staring, leering, whistling, winking, or making sexually offensive gestures or singing songs, utter words, taking any photos or videos, or any other form of electronic communication causing annoyance or harassment of a woman or girl passenger.

Any other form of misbehavior with intent to outrage the modesty of the women passengers will be punishable. The marginal heading "Responsibility of driver of Stage Carriage on which there is no conductor" will be substituted with "Responsibility of driver when there is no conductor".

Save for good and sufficient reasons, a male should not touch any women passenger or girl on the false pretext that he is assisting her to get into or get down of the vehicle. Inappropriate questions shall not be raised.

Male passengers should not make any physical contact or make any sexually colored remarks or comments or jokes or explicit sexual overtures, such as touching or pinching to indicate indirectly his sexually suggestive innuendos, commonly understood as flirting.

The bus staff shall maintain a complaint book to be provided to any passenger and shall produce the so maintained books on demand by the Police Officials or the Officials of the Transport Department for review. The vehicle should be taken to a police station that is nearest to the place of incidence to lodge a complaint against the passenger in case of an incident of indecent behavior, molestation or eve-teasing, etc.