Mumbai: A social activist has approached the Bombay high court, seeking registration of an FIR for death by negligence and under other related sections of the IPC against Director General (DG) of (Rapid Action Force (RPF), station master of RPF, station master of Elphinstone Railway station and General Manager (GM) of Western Railway and other railway authorities in connection with the September 29 stampede at the railway station that has so far claimed 23 lives. The PIL would be mentioned before the court on Tuesday.
The petitioner has also sought compensation of Rs 15 lakh for the family of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh for the injured. He also sought demolition of the old bridge and construction of a new foot overbridge (FOB) and the removal of vendors, hawkers, and beggars on the station premises.
On September 29, advocate Nitin Satpute had presented the criminal public interest litigation in respect of the stampede at Elphinstone railway station, the same day the incident took place. However, the PIL could not be registered in such a short period of time and hence the petition would be mentioned before the court on Tuesday when the court would reopen.
The petition has been filed on behalf of Pradeep Bhalekar seeking to hold government officials responsible, who according to the petition, have failed to discharge their duty as the government and public servants.
The petitioner has sought to register an FIR under sections 304 (II) (causing death by negligence), 336 (act endangering life or personal safety of others), 166 (A) (public servant disobeying direction under law) read with 34 (common intention) of IPC. He has sought registration of case against Dharmendra Kumar (DG RPF), the Station Master of Elphinstone railway station, Anil Kumar Gupta (GM of Western Railway), Mukul Jain (Divisional railway manager), Commissioner of Police (Railways), Sushil Chandra (Commissioner, RPF), Chief Safety Officer (Western Railway) and Commissioner of railway safety (Western Circle).
According to the petition, there was also a violation of human rights when disrespect was shown towards the dead bodies by writing numbers for identification on their foreheads.
It has also been alleged that no personnel from RPF or GRP were available to control and manage the crowd.
