- (1.) This petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India has been filed in public interest by an Advocate practising in this Court highlighting an incident that occurred on 01.02. 2011 near Mohammadabad Crossing in Shahjahanpur Division in State of Uttar Pradesh. The petitioner has prayed for directions, inter alia, for finding out reasons for loss of lives, for assessment of damage to property and for grant of compensation or financial assistance to victims. He has also prayed for directions for laying down guidelines for necessary precautions and care to be taken so that such tragedy is not repeated again.
(2.) The incident highlighted in the petition was:- a. In a recruitment drive aimed at filling up 416 posts of Class IV employees, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP, for short) had called candidates from eleven States at its headquarter located at Bareilly, a small town in Uttar Pradesh on 1.2.2011. The aspiring candidates for said posts were required to remain present in person and submit their forms for registration. In response to said recruitment drive, aspirants started arriving at Bareilly and by morning of 1.02.2011 more than two lakh aspirants had arrived. The gathering was swelling and increasing in number. The officers of ITBP found themselves incapable of managing the situation because of such large gathering and as such they suspended and postponed the drive. b. The consequent resentment and shouting of slogans in protest by aspirants provoked the higher officers of ITBP to use lathi charge to push the crowd. This resulted in a chaotic situation with some aspirants resorting to violence. The armed police then had to use tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. Massive disturbance and lawlessness prevailed all over the town causing law and order problem. Some buses were burnt and damage was caused to public and private property. In the backdrop of such situation the crowd of aspiring candidates rushed to rail and road terminals to return back to their homes. c. Because of congestion and crowd in large members, the train coaches were all jam packed. Hundreds of young men then climbed atop Himgiri Express that was on its way to eastern U.P. and Bihar from where large number of aspirants had come. d. When Himgiri Express left Shahjahanpur Railway Station with hundreds of men on roof top and headed towards Rosa town, an accident took place at Hathaurda Railway Over Bridge near Mohammadabad crossing in Shahajahanpur. The Railway Over Bridge was not tall enough and the gap between the roof of the coach and the bottom of the over bridge was hardly three feet. The train was speeding fast and by the time the young men on roof top saw the approaching bridge it was too late. At least 14 young men were crushed there and then with 20 others seriously injured having been hit by the Over Bridge and fallen from roof top. At this time, some high tension wire broke and fell over the train as a result of which some received electric shocks. Despite this mishap, the train continued running for a while and it finally stopped some 3 kms from the place of incident. e. The roof top of coaches was full of blood. The dead bodies and injured were brought down. People rushed back to find out those who had fallen from the roof top. The train driver, guard and other employees had run away from the spot. f. The incident provoked those young aspirants, some of whom torched two coaches of the train. What followed thereafter was total chaos putting tremendous pressure on the Administration in carrying out relief work and taking injured to Hospitals for medical attention.
(3.) With the aforesaid assertions this petition was filed on 7.2.2011. In the meantime Railway Administration had ordered an enquiry. By interim order passed by this Court the respondents were directed to submit the Report pursuant to enquiry instituted by them. Consequently, Enquiry Report dated 09.09.2011 by Mr. Raj Kumar Kardam, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, New Delhi was placed on record. The record indicates that this Report was preceded by Prelimnary Report dated 23.02.2011. The relevant portions of Chapter 7 of the Report dated 09.09.2011 under heading "Discussion" are as under:- "Time of the accident As per the statement of loco pilot, assistant loco pilot and guard of train no. 12332 Dn Jammu Tawi-Howrah Himgiri Express, the train passed Shahjahanpur station at 16:23 hrs. The other records also show that this train passed Shahjahanpur station at 16:23 hrs a few passengers travelling on the roofs of the coaches of this train got struck against the Public Foot Over Bridge located at LKO (East) end in Shahjahanpur Yard near the end of the platform. 7.2 Speed of the train at the time of accident: Diesel loco No. 11133 WDM-3D LKO of train no. 12332 Dn Jammu Tawi-Howrah Himgiri Express was provided with Medha Speed Time Distance Recording System Type MRT 918. Analysis of speedometer recording of his loco was made CRSE/CHg/NR in his technical note on the accident. Copy of the same is enclosed as Annexure-X. As per the speed and time observations analysis done by CRSE/Chg./NR, the speed of the train no. 12332 Dn at the time of passing under the public foot over the bridge located at LKO (East) end in Shahjahanpur Yard was assessed as 75kmph. A few passengers travelling on the roofs of the coaches of this train got struck against the Public Foot Over Bridge located at LKO (East) end in Shahjahanpur Yard near the end of the platform. From the above, the speed of the train no. 12332 Dn at the time of accident is thus considered as 75 kmph. 7.3 Cause of the Accident: From the particulars of injuries suffered by the roof travelers, it was observed that most of the persons injured had been hit in the upper portion of their heads. It was also evident that injuries were caused to passengers, who were traveling and sitting/standing on the roof of the coaches. An incident of hitting of an obstruction resulting in such type of injuries to the roof riders could be caused, in all probabilities by striking against the existing foot over bridge, road over bridge etc. Evidence available reveals that before starting the trains, all possible efforts were made by the railway and civil officials to get the roof riders come down from roof. Continuous announcements were made through public address system and loud hailers. ADRM, Sr. DSC/RPF, SP/Railway and civil authorities were continuously monitoring the situation. However the roof riders refused to come down from the roof top of the coaches. They were also throwing stones on passengers and officials. Large number of "JYREENS" had also gathered at railway station and approached ADRM for help and protection. In this situation, possibilities of taking incidence a turn to communal violence were very much there, as this area is a communal sensitive area and has passed through communal violence very recently (March 2010 and August 2010). In view of above, the situation had become highly volatile and had the decision to move the train was not taken at that time by the railway; the violent crowd would have damaged the station property and trains on the platforms and could have resulted in stampede and unmanageable situation at the railway station. DM/BE, IG/BE, DIG/BE, SP/BE and other Civil and Police officials were themselves available at Bareilly station to watch and control the situation. They also insisted for the movement of the trains as quickly as possible and in whatever manner. The idea was to disperse the crowd as early as possible. The situation was even being watched at Rampur station by DM/Rampur and SP/Rampur who were themselves available at Rampur station. At Rosa station also ADM, ASP, Co were present themselves to control the situation. In the above circumstances, when 2332 Dn Jammu Tawi-Howrah Himgiri Exp. Train running at a speed of 75kmph approached the Shahjahanpur public foot over bridge at km 1237.255 km with passengers travelling and sitting/standing on the roof of the coaches, few passengers sitting and traveling on the roofs of the coaches got struck against the Public Foot Over Bridge situated at the Lucknow (East) end of Shahjahanpur railway station. 7.5.2 There was an infringement of 55 mm in the vertical clearance at the Public Foot Over Bridge, Shahjahapur as per the Indian Railways, Schedule of Dimensions, Revised, 2004. CE/P&D/NR prepared a technical note in this connection and a copy of the same is enclosed as Annexure-XIV. Details have been given in his letter No. 1-W/0/Accident/MB/Pt. IV dated 04.05.2011, a copy of which is enclosed as Annexure-XV. Northern Railway Administration has given his comments on item No. 2 of my immediate recommendations of Preliminary Report vide CSO/NR's letter No. 10T/Spl./Occurrence/MB/2011 dated 20.06.2011 (Annexure XXVIII) and as per this railway has to take further action in removing/regularizing the infringements. Railway must ensure that there are no infringements to any of the dimensions as per Indian Railways, Schedule of Dimensions, Revised, 2004 for any of the overhead fixed structure like FOBs, ROBs etc. For this a special drive should be launched by Railway Administration for removal/regularization of the infringements. 7.5.3 On scrutiny of the Steel Structure Register of IOW/SPN and Bridge Inspection Register for ROB/FOBs of ADEN/SPN, it was seen that though the inspections were being carried out regularly but the vertical clearances from the rail level to this fixed structures like FOB, ROBs were not being measured during the inspections as this have not been prescribed in the Proforma available for recording the various parameters. Clearance is an important item as these may get changed due to track renewals, change in ballast cushion or any other reason resulting into the rail level being raised and may infringe the Schedule of Dimensions. Therefore it is very much essential that proper record and upkeep of such an important item is kept. Railway Administration should issue a standard Proforma for Steel Structure Register and Bridge Inspection Register to be maintained for the inspection of ROB/FOBs which should also include the item of measurements to be taken for clearances. 7.6 Role of Railway officials and others: No railway officials were found to be responsible for the accident as such this aspect is not discussed in the Report. The primary responsibility rests with those persons who travelled on the roofs of coaches in violation of Section 156 of the Indian Railways Act, 1989.";