2 Central Railway engineers booked for Mumbra train accident seek anticipatory bail

Pinning the blame on overcrowding in the trains for the death of the five passengers, the two engineers—in their anticipatory bail pleas filed through lawyers Baldev Rajput and Priyanka Dable—said many trains had passed through the tracks before and after the accident, and if it was an issue with the tracks, at least the next few trains too would have been impacted.

On November 1, the Thane GRP filed an FIR alleging that due to rain on the preceding days of the accident on June 9, the drain near the tracks choked up and water filled on the railway track near Mumbra station. This led to displacement of gravel under the tracks and the ground near the platform sank slightly, causing jerks on the train. The FIR alleged that this caused the adjacent tracks to be one higher than the other and it resulted in the two passing trains being very close to each other, causing the passengers to collide and fall.

The engineers also relied on a report by the the Central Railway’s internal inquiry, which said that it was a domino effect that led to the incident when one backpack of a commuter protruding outside the first train, brushed past a commuter on the other train, causing the others to fall off. The FIR cites a report by the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, referring to various technical reasons for this ‘collision’ between commuters, including a need to have a low speed limit for the trains passing through the track.

The lawyers have submitted that the Railway’s inquiry report was based on statements of various officials, commuters, CCTV footage and other such evidence and hence, is reliable. The lawyers also said the report was prepared by September 20 but was not referred to by the GRP as it was sent to the police only on November 3, while the FIR was filed on November 1.

The lawyers also cited a report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), citing overcrowding as the reason. The FIR against the engineers was registered under sections related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and act endangering life and personal safety. The lawyers said the GRP was responsible for handling overcrowding issues and the FIR could have been filed to shift responsibility to the Central Railway engineers for the accident.