‘First you take a drink… then it takes you’: Bombay HC cites Fitzgerald quote while dismissing man’s compensation plea

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court invoked American novelist F Scott Fitzgerald while refusing compensation to a man injured in a railway accident, citing the line: “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” A single bench of Justice Jitendra Jain, in an order passed on Wednesday, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, said alcohol ruins everything.

The court dismissed an appeal filed by a city resident challenging a 2014 order of the Railway Claims Tribunal denying him compensation for injuries suffered at a railway platform.

It said the applicant was denied relief because the injury was due to an act committed in a state of intoxication.

"Alcohol ruins, it ruins everything. Physical and mental health, relationships, causes family breakdown, social dysfunction, career disruption and has severe long-term lifestyle consequences," the HC said in its order.

"I am reminded of this quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you," Justice Jain said.

The applicant, a lab assistant with Bombay Hospital, claimed that around midnight on March 10, 2001, he was waiting at Marine Lines station to board a train when he was struck by an approaching train.

He was initially taken to GT Hospital and later shifted to Bombay Hospital, as per which he had consumed large quantities of liquor.

The HC order noted that it cannot be held that the incident was "untoward" and hence liable for compensation.

"When a person is so heavily drunk, then his act of standing close to the border of the platform would be a case falling under Section 124A of the Railways Act, which bars compensation if the person is intoxicated," HC said.