Observing that the Central Railway, Western Railway and the Government Railway Police (GRP) have prima facie committed contempt by not providing immediate medical care to accident victims.
Observing that the Central Railway, Western Railway and the Government Railway Police (GRP) have prima facie committed contempt by not providing immediate medical care to accident victims despite court ruling, the Bombay high court on Friday issued them show-cause notices, asking why action should not be initiated against them. The authorities will have to reply by February 3.
“The respondents (railways and the GRP) have breached the HC orders,” observed justice SJ Kathawala, while hearing a contempt plea filed by social activist Samir Zaveri, who lost his legs in a railway accident. According to Zaveri’s plea, the railways failed to comply with the HC orders on commuters’ safety by not providing immediate medical care to accident victims.
Among the various violations of HC orders is the inability of providing ambulances to reach victim to the nearest hospital — public, government, BMC run or private — within a five-kilometre radius in the golden hour (within one hour).
Both the railways and the GRP earned the court’s rap for passing the buck. While railways counsels - Beni Chatterji and Suresh Kumar — said no hospital admits accident victims unless a police case is registered, and that it was GRP’s job to conduct a panchnama and take the victim to the hospital, assistant government pleader Geeta Shastri representing the GRP said it were the railways that had been ordered to reach victims to a hospital.
Counsels for Zaveri - JP Cama and Rajeev Singh - noted that “hardly any progress has been made since 2004, when the high court began issuing the orders, with they (railways and the GRP) passing the buck between them.” Pointing out an incident where a commuter had met with a railway accident at Virar, Cama said, “He was brought to Bhagwati hospital at Borivli, which is more than 35 kilometers away.”
“The patient is likely to die. What are you (railways) doing? You are in clear contempt of Clause 5 (transporting victim to the nearest hospital),” remarked justice Kathawala. Advocate Jamshed Mistry, appointed as amicus curie, said that the state government has, in a separate PIL pertaining to the treatment to emergency patients in private hospital, agreed to foot the bill.
When Justice Kathawala asked about the status of other court directions, including erecting boundary walls and plugging holes in existing walls, fencing between tracks and raising height of the platforms, Chatterji said they had complied with a majority of them. “Eighty per cent of the boundary walls have been erected or repaired. Also, platform heights have been raised at several stations,” added Chatterji.
This was when Justice Kathawala said, “I have travelled by trains. This (gap) is the main cause of people getting pulled down on the tracks.” To this, Chatterji said that they will survey all stations once again to check platform height.
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