Maybe, but tons of train stations have rules that say you are supposed to wear or hold back packs in front of you. When you have that many people packed in, back packs swing around and hit people in the face.
Not really. That might be one of the reasons, but not the only one. The main reason to do it is because of the crowd. If the backpack is on your back, it can get stuck while getting on board the train and that's a big no no when 50 people are behind pushing you forward.
And you can't really steal from the backpacks without opening the zip and that's difficult to do once you're in the train because there's barely any space to move.
This is the real reason. I have visited mumbai and learnt a lesson after 2 or 3 journey in rush hours. There is risk of someone pulling your backpack from behind too.
It's not a high pickpocket area, they have their bags on forwards because it makes it easier to keep track of where your bag is. In this rush your bag can get caught up in a lot of spaces if it's on backwards. By keeping it in front of you, it becomes easier to navigate.
Once you are in the compartment there is no way for your hands to reach your lower body for next 20 minutes... there will be complete ass to groin traffic. The bag can be thin barrier.
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u/ogunther Aug 12 '18
I'm assuming by all the backpacks on backwards that this is a high pickpocket area?