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Journalism of Courage
Two Railway Protection Force (RPF) constables — who were on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express on July 31 last year, when Constable Chetansinh Chaudhary allegedly gunned down a senior colleague and three passengers — have been dismissed from service.
The dismissal orders for Constables Amay Acharya and Narendra Parmar, issued by S K S Rathod, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF, Mumbai Division, Western Railway, on Friday, cited their “failure to discharge their duty”.
Chaudhary, who was dismissed from service earlier, is currently in Akola jail. He is accused of gunning down three passengers — Abdul Kadar Mohamed Hussain Bhanpurawala, Syed Saifuddin and Asgar Abbas Sheikh – and RPF Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena. After killing the four people, he allegedly gave a hate speech, according to purported video clips of the incident.
The dismissal orders of the two constables said: “It was the responsibility of the accused constables on duty to provide security and protection to the passengers… They, however, failed to do the same. The act of the accused constables would erode trust among passengers towards RPF and… send a wrong message among other members of the force towards indiscipline. To ensure that there is no repetition of the same, retaining the constables in the force despite their failure to discharge their duty would be fatal for RPF.”
The orders, reviewed by The Indian Express, detailed their specific failures.
According to Acharya’s dismissal order, he hid in the washroom of S-4 coach instead of intervening. He saw Chaudhary removing the rifle’s safety catch, but left him alone with ASI Tikaram Meena, who was later killed, it said.
Parmar’s dismissal order said Chaudhary took a passenger hostage at gunpoint in front of him, led him to another coach, and killed him. CCTV footage and witness statements showed that Parmar hid behind other passengers instead of intervening, it said.
Earlier, the Government Railway Police (GRP) had made Acharya the complainant in the FIR against Chaudhary, while Parmar was a key witness from the prosecution’s side.
The Borivali GRP officials have filed a 1,097-page chargesheet against Chaudhary, with the accounts of nearly 39 eyewitnesses.
Meanwhile, Chaudhary’s lawyer, Amit Mishra, has moved court asking for him to be shifted to any prison in Mumbai or Thane.
Chaudhary has been charged under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence), 341 (wrongful restraint), 342 (wrongful confinement), 364 (kidnapping for murder), 427 (mischief and causing loss), 506(2) (death threats) as well as sections of the Indian Railways Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.
With inputs from Vijay Kumar Yadav
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