No compulsory frisking at Delhi Metro stations

The Central Industrial Security Force has stopped compulsory frisking of passengers at all Metro stations in the national capital, saying that the exercise was leading to long queues at the stations.

The CISF, which takes care of Metro security, will now frisk only on the basis of profiling and in case of suspicion. Sources, however, said the exercise could be restarted before the Independence Day or the Commonwealth Games.

"The queues were getting very long. During rush hours, queues use to extend even till the entry point of the metro station. Now profiling would be done through CCTV cameras and manually," a source said.

Metro spokesperson could not be reached for comments. They said baggage checks will screen for any IEDs and bombs, suspicious men can be tracked down through profiling.

"Conscious decision has been taken by all the agencies involved keeping in view all the security aspects that frisking will be carried out only in case of suspicion and profiling of the commuter. 100 per cent baggage check will continue," a source said.

While the authorities insist on profiling, some passengers feel frisking should be carried on while others feel the new decision will not make any difference.

"Without frisking, a sense of security is gone. Anybody can walk in with gun or something. Profiling of so many people at one time is not possible," Ajay Chadha, a salesman, who commute through metro train, said.

However, his friend said, "The frisking earlier was also not very strict. It was just for the sake of formality. So nothing new now."

The sources said that compulsory frisking in not carried out anywhere in the world. Security officials on the condition of anonymity, however, said India is not like other countries and threat perception is high here.

"May be just before the Independence Day or the Commonwealth Games, compulsory frisking would be back. At times, compulsory frisking done in a proper way helps prevent any outward incident," the source said.