The railways on Monday filed an affidavit before the court, stating that it could post police personnel on overnight trains subject to the availability of manpower resources. A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and A P Bhangale then directed the railways to explain how short they are of manpower during the next hearing.
The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the railways to provide an account of the shortage of manpower it is facing because of which it is unable to provide adequate number of police escorts to overnight trains.
The railways on Monday filed an affidavit before the court, stating that it could post police personnel on overnight trains subject to the availability of manpower resources. A division bench of Justices Abhay Oka and A P Bhangale then directed the railways to explain how short they are of manpower during the next hearing.
The affidavit filed by Pranav Kumar, additional chief security commissioner, Railway Protection Force, states that a corrigendum to directive 33 be amended by including a provision. The provision states that while taking a decision on the vulnerability of a train, special emphasis and attention shall be given to trains involving overnight journey. It is also advised that subject to availability of manpower resources, other night trains which do not fall in the category of vulnerable or highly vulnerable will also be escorted by staff of GRP."
Advocate Uday Warunjikar, who appeared for petitioner Kiran Mehta, said, "The affidavit states that policemen will be subject to availability of manpower, which is very vague. Thus the court felt it necessary to know the shortfall in police personnel which the railways is facing."
The direction was given during the hearing of a petition filed by Mehta, father of Bhavika Mehta, who lost a leg after she was injured while chasing a thief in 2012 on an outstation train, which said that there was no policemen present in the coach.
Bhavika was travelling from Amritsar to Mumbai Central in 2012, when she was robbed on board. When she tried to chase the thief, he pulled her out of the running train. Her leg had to be amputated later. Since she could not take medical aid in a nearby railway/civil hospital, she got herself admitted to a private hospital in Chandigarh and claimed a compensation amount of Rs 9 lakh. This was granted to her, but later an extra Rs 5 lakh was required for a prosthetic leg, which the railways refused to give.
Bhavika had approached the court seeking compensation from the railways for medical expenses. After repeated orders and directions by the court the railways had finally released the compensation amount.
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