The Delhi High Court on Wednesday came down hard on the centre and Indian Railways over the stampede last week at the New Delhi Railway Station, in which 18 people were killed.
A division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela demanded to know why the Railways had continued to sell tickets in excess of the number of passengers who could be accommodated in a couch. A furious court sought replies from the centre and the Railways.
The court was hearing a PIL on safety measures to prevent such tragic incidents, and to enforce a section of the Railways Act that limits passengers per coach and prescribes a six-month jail term to those who flout the rule. The rule in question is Section 147, which also prescribes a Rs 1,000 fine.
“Show what steps you will take to implement existing laws that limit number of passengers in coaches and penalise persons entering without authority,” the court raged, “From a perusal of the relevant sections (of the Railways Act)… every railway administration is under a statutory mandate to fix a certain number of passengers… and this number shall be exhibited conspicuously outside coach.”
“If you implement a simple thing in a positive manner… in letter and spirit… this situation (the stampede at the Delhi railway station) could have been avoided,” the Chief Justice said.
The court acknowledged that on “rush days” the Railways could, within reason, accommodate more than the permitted limit, but that otherwise enforcing the maximum seating capacity “seems to have been neglected”. “Why did number of tickets sold exceed number of berths? That is a problem.”
Under heavy fire, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Railways, accepted the court’s directions and said the Railway Board would look into all aspects of this situation.
The court then fixed March 26 as the next date of hearing.
The situation reportedly reached critical mass after 10 pm, after the Shiv Ganga and Magadh express services, both of which run through Prayagraj, where the Maha Kumbh is being held, departed.
Thousands were still left on platforms 14 and 15 after these trains left, and that’s when there was word of a special train to Prayagraj from platform 16. The stampede happened in the rush that followed.
However, reports of that last-minute platform change causing the stampede were denied by the Railway Ministry as “wrong and misleading”. The ministry also aid the RPF had not conducted an inquiry, and that it was a high-level committee set up by Northern Railway is leading this investigation.
The Delhi stampede followed a worse tragedy at Prayagraj, in which 30 people were killed, and which have led to furious attacks by the opposition on the BJP, which is in power at the centre and in UP.
