New Delhi: The Kerala high court pulled up the Indian Railways over the delay in addressing the grievance of a person who sustained a bullet injury in 2012 after a railway policeman misfired.
According to Bar and Bench, Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan said, “The Railway is introducing fast trains like ‘Vande Bharat’, ‘Rajdhani’, ‘Jan Shatabdi’, etc. But Railway ought to have redressed these types of grievances of the citizens also in speed track to build confidence in the citizen without dragging citizens to litigation.”
He said it was not right on the part of the Railways to “unnecessarily drag” citizens into litigation. The court ordered the Railways to pay Rs 8.2 lakh compensation to the petitioner (victim).
The victim suffered the injury in 2012 when he was on his way to the reservation counter at Thampanoor Railway Station in Thiruvananthapuram. A bullet pierced through his abdomen when a railway cop at the station misfired his gun. After examining his case, the railways’ special board offered him Rs 1.20 lakh as compensation.
However, he then approached the high court arguing that the amount paid in compensation is not enough for the level of trauma he had undergone. He also noted in his petition that the injury left him with a permanent disability and has not been able to lead a normal life. He sought Rs 20 lakh as compensation.
The railways challenged his petition and questioned the maintainability of his petition, underlining that a compensation of Rs 1.20 lakh was already paid to him.
After examining the medical records of the petitioner and considering his agony, the court ordered Railways to pay the victim Rs 8.20 lakh while pulling up the Railways. It said the petitioner is entitled to interest also for the said amount at the rate of 9% per annum from the date of the incident.
“I am of the considered opinion that in a situation like this, the Railway ought to have risen to the occasion and redress the grievance of the petitioner without asking the victim, like the petitioner, to lead a legal battle. All legal battles are worth fighting, but some are not worth winning,” the judge said in a word of advice to the Railways.