'Mumbra accident took place due to train overcrowding not because of any lapses': Accused tell court

Thane: Two railway engineers, booked for culpable homicide in connection with the Mumbra train accident that claimed five lives in June this year, on Friday told a court here that the incident took place not due to any lapses on their part but because of overcrowding.

The two accused engineers said this in their pre-arrest bail application, which came up for hearing before Additional Sessions Judge G T Pawar.

The court directed the police to file a report on their plea and posted the matter for hearing on November 11.

The incident occurred on June 9 between Diva and Mumbra railway stations in Thane district when two trains - one headed to Kasara and the other towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai - were passing each other at a sharp curve (near the Mumbra station). Some commuters on the footboard of the coaches fell onto the tracks after their backpacks brushed against each other, the police have said.

The incident resulted in the death of five passengers.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) on November 1 registered a case against assistant divisional engineer Vishal Dolas, senior section engineer Samar Yadav and other railway officers and employees, who had the responsibility of maintenance of the railway tracks.

They were booked under sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 125 (a) (b) (acts endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The Thane GRP had earlier registered an accidental death case.

Appearing on behalf of Dolas and Yadav, their counsel Baldev Rajput told the court that the accident occurred not due to any lapses on the part of the applicants, but due to overcrowding of trains.

Had the accident been caused due to the failure of the railways, then the tragedy should have happened with other trains as well since 200 trains pass through the same location.

He also told the court that the applicants were government employees and were available for interrogation any time.

The counsel also cited that the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has accepted a submission by a retired railway official that such accidents were a result of overcrowding on suburban trains.

On Thursday evening, two persons died and three sustained injuries after they were hit by a suburban train near Sandhurst Road railway station in south Mumbai. The incident occurred after suburban train services of the Central Railway were disrupted due to a flash strike by employees' unions over the FIR registered against the two engineers in the Mumbra accident case.