The railway ministry said that the Railway Protection Force had arrested more than 73,000 transgender people for allegedly extorting money from commuters over the last four years, PTI reported. The ministry, in a Right to Information Act reply, said that the personnel conduct routine drives to keep such crimes in check.

The ministry said a total of 73,837 transgender people were arrested from 2015 to January 2019. “Policing on railways being a state subject, prevention of crime, registration of cases, their investigation and maintenance of law and order in railway premises as well as on running trains are the statutory responsibility of the state governments, which they discharge through the Government Railway Police,” the ministry said.

As many as 1,399 transgender people were arrested in January 2019. Nearly 13,546 transgender people were arrested in 2015, 19,800 in 2016, 18,526 in 2017 and 20,566 in 2018, the statement said.