A day after Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav demanded the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders for their violence that allegedly caused the death of Pawan Kumar, a Bihar native who was in Mumbai to take the Railway Recruitment Board exam on October 19 when he was run over by a train at Andheri station, closed circuit television camera footage now narrates a different, more sordid story, about the suburban railway in the financial capital.A recording from the CCTV, being monitored by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), shows a train leaving Platform No 1 towards Virar, at 6.18 am. Once the train passes, Pawan can be seen lying on the tracks. A few minutes later, another train approaches and then glides past the injured Pawan who is still partly on the tracks, right next to Platform No 1. A coolie approaches Pawan, but stops as another train (at 6.31 am) approaches. In effect, three trains ran over the youth, whose legs, officials confirmed, had been severed in the accident. According to the rulebook for railway staff, when such an accident occurs, the train must not move until the victim is carried away.Mumbai Railway Police Commissioner A K Sharma confirmed it was an accidental death. “Pawan tried to board a running train holding on to the rod as the picked up speed. He kept holding the rod of the running train. Suddenly his legs slipped between the train and the platform and both his legs were run over,” Sharma said.On being asked about the shocking lapse by the motormen and train guards even as a bleeding man lay on the tracks, he only said: “Today, I saw clippings recorded on the CCTV. Also, a porter has told the police that he himself saw this person trying to board the train and then falling on the tracks. It was an accidental death.”Pawan had come to Mumbai to take an exam being conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board. His examination centre being located at Bhayander, he was attempting to board a Virar local from Andheri when the accident occurred. The footage also makes it clear that Pawan’s death was an accident. “The recording shows there were no MNS workers at Andheri station. As it was a Sunday, the platforms too were empty,” points out one RPF official, not wishing to be named. “When Pawan fell, it was the duty of the guard to stop the train. Instead, the motormen of two other trains also ignored the victim. It is inhuman,” he added. In all, it was 40 minutes before Pawan was finally ferried to the Cooper Hospital, still alive then.
