A day after the horrific Amritsar train tragedy, which claimed a toll of over 60 lives, an FIR was filed by the Government Railway Police (GRP) against unknown persons. A case has been registered under sections 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 304A (causing death by negligence) and 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC, a GRP official told PTI. SHO of GRP railway station Amritsar Balvir Singh said the FIR has been registered against the unknown persons and names of the accused would be added in the FIR after investigation.
"It is too early to say anything about the accused [or] who was responsible for the mass killing on railway track. But during the course of investigation, many facts and causes are expected to come to light. Investigation will be conducted to find out the causes and lapses that led to the killing of so many people," he said. Singh said the GRP was informed by Punjab police personnel about the incident and they immediately rushed to the spot. "We found bodies of many people including women and children. We extended all possible help to shift the injured people to different hospitals and assisted the administration in the rescue operation," he said.
At the same time, local municipal corporation councillor Vijay Madan and her son Sourabh Madan Mithu, the main organisers of the Dussehra celebration in Amritsar, have gone underground with other family members. According to police, a few people angry over the accident attacked their residence, broke window panes and pelted stones on Saturday. Following this, the Madan family members have gone to an undisclosed location and also switched off their mobile phones. However, police personnel have been deployed at the residence. Vijay Madan is the sitting councillor from ward number 29 falling under the Amritsar East assembly constituency. The Madan family members were the main organisers of the Dussehra event where the train accident took place.
The Punjab government has ordered a magisterial probe into the accident, while railways has ruled out any inquiry on its part. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that a magisterial inquiry into the train accident will be conducted and the report will be submitted in four weeks. The chief minister postponed a trip to Israel and arrived in Amritsar to assess the damage. "We are announcing a magisterial probe into the incident," Singh told reporters. Meanwhile, the railways, on Saturday, said that the tragedy was a case of trespassing and not a railway accident and ruled out a probe by the Commissioner Railway Safety. The Commission of Railway Safety works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and conducts mandatory inquiry into all railway accidents—at unmanned level crossings, derailments or after a bridge collapse. "The commission conducts statutory investigation into railway accidents. This was an incident where people were trespassing on the tracks and not an accident," Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani told PTI. Railways also said that no action will be taken against the driver of the train who had managed to slow down the train to around 68 kmph from the speed of 91kmph at which he was assigned to run.
Meanwhile, the event devolved into political mudslinging, as BJP demanded the arrest of former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu, the wife of Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was the chief guest at the event held on Friday. "[Navjot Kaur] Sidhu's lie that she was not aware of the people standing on the railway tracks is exposed. She is repeatedly being told, according to new video evidence, that there are people on the tracks and even if the trains arrive, nothing will happen to them," senior BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chinna said in a statement. He said the inquiry ordered into the incident by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was a "mere eyewash". He alleged that Navjot Kaur Sidhu and Navjot Singh Sidhu were telling "one lie after another".
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore per person and government jobs for the families of those killed. Badal demanded immediate dismissal of Punjab minster Navjot Singh Sidhu from the cabinet besides registration of a fresh FIR against his family based on statements of the victims.
On Friday, a train mowed down the revellers who had spilled onto railway tracks while watching the burning of a Ravana effigy at 'Dhobi ghat' ground near Joda Phatak. At the time of the incident, at least 300 people were watching the Ravana dahan.
-Inputs from PTI
