Train berths sold like vegetables: Court raps ticket checkers after passenger death
The Calcutta High Court has asked the general managers of all railway zones in the country to ensure the maximum available penalties against travelling ticket
The Calcutta High Court has asked the general managers of all railway zones in the country to ensure the maximum available penalties against travelling ticket examiners, or TTEs, who sell vacant berths illegally, saying some of them do so like "vegetables in a market". The court made the observation while hearing a case linked to the death of a train passenger who was drugged and robbed after getting a berth by paying a TTE. Read Full Story A division bench led by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha said the conduct of TTEs had led to the crime and noted that one of the two passengers died after being given a sedative. The bench partly allowed the appeals of the two convicted men, holding that the prosecution had proved only the charge relating to causing hurt by poison or intoxicating substances, and not the other charges including murder. The case relates to an incident in February 2009, when Arun Chakraborty and Sunil Kumar Das boarded the Teesta Torsa Express from New Jalpaiguri to Sealdah with unreserved tickets. According to the court, they followed a practice they were used to and got berths after bribing the TTE concerned.
They were later drugged by two criminals and robbed of their valuables. Chakraborty survived after nine days in hospital, while Das, who had comorbidities, died. In its judgment delivered last week, the bench, also comprising Justice Biswaroop Choudhury, said, "This court is constrained to refer a copy of the judgment to the general manager of the Eastern Railway and other railways (zones) in the country to ensure the maximum available penalties for TTEs who sell empty berths in trains like vegetables in a market." It added that such conduct resulted in the death of a passenger who was "only a victim of theft" and said, "There are several cases galore not reported that have, in fact, resulted in very serious medical consequences for victims of petty theft." The bench further held, "The origin of such crimes is in the hands of the TTEs." The court also criticised the police for what it called "several loopholes" in the investigation and prosecution. "It is expected that the police authorities take more sincere, diligent and devoted steps to conduct investigations so that the life and liberty of travelling passengers are more secure in the Indian Railways." The bench noted that the investigating officer had not collected the forensic science laboratory report of the victim's viscera and said there was no evidence to show that the viscera had been sent to the laboratory at all, adding, "The lapse on the part of the investigating officer is rather inexcusable." The judgment said the dereliction of duty by the TTE who allotted berths to the two passengers without prior reservation, as well as by the other TTEs before and after him on the journey to Sealdah, was "a matter of grave and serious concern".
The BriefWire