Chitheri rly mishap: HC sets aside loco pilot’s sentence
The accident resulted in the death of 12 persons on the spot and 71 passengers sustained severe injuries and incurred a huge loss of Rs 2.20 crore to the Railway department.
Madras High Court (File)
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has set aside 10-year imprisonment imposed on a loco pilot for the collision of two trains near Chitheri railway station, which caused the death of 12 passengers.
Loco pilot Rajkumar moved the High Court challenging the conviction and sentence imposed on him by the Vellore Principal District Court on August 21, 2017. The case was listed before Justice Sunder Mohan.
On September 13, 2011, as a loco pilot, the appellant was plying between Chennai Beach Railway Station to Vellore Cantonment. At 9.30 pm the train driven by the appellant collided with another passenger train which was plying from Arakkonam to Katpadi and caused an accident. The accident resulted in the death of 12 persons on the spot and 71 passengers sustained severe injuries and incurred a huge loss of Rs 2.20 crore to the Railway department.
The Villupuram court found the accused guilty and imposed a 10-year jail sentence with Rs 1 lakh as a fine under Section 308, 304 (II) of IPC and Section 151 of the Indian Railways Act.
Additional Public Prosecutor A Gokulakrishnan contended that the appellant drove the train with utter negligence violating the speed limit of 75 kmph and talking with his friend over a mobile phone while driving the train. Further, he also neglected the danger signal and collided with another passenger train, which was slowed down as per the signal. Hence, the APP sought not to set aside the sentence.
The counsel for the appellant contended that the prosecution had not established that the speed limit of the train was 75 kmph by any document and that they had only let in oral evidence, which cannot be accepted in a case of this nature. The prosecution has not established the fact that the appellant was talking on a mobile phone at the time of the accident, submitted the counsel.
The evidence submitted before the court does not suggest gross negligence on the part of the appellant. Thus, the circumstances relied upon by the prosecution besides not being conclusively established, do not suggest that the appellant had the knowledge that his act would cause the deaths of several passengers, wrote the judge.
Hence, the Madras High Court acquitted the appellant and set aside the sentence imposed on him.