New Delhi, Aug. 4 : The Delhi High Court has upheld the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) direction to the Railways to pay ₹3 lakh compensation to a woman who was gangraped inside a stationary passenger train at Bihar’s Lakhisarai railway station in 2012, observing that the Railways cannot escape responsibility merely because the crime was committed by private individuals.
Dismissing a petition filed by the Ministry of Railways challenging the NHRC’s orders of April 30, 2014 and April 19, 2016, Justice Amit Bansal held that the Railways had a statutory duty to ensure passenger safety and provide a secure environment inside train coaches.
The court said gangrape constituted a “violent attack” under Section 123(c) of the Railways Act and therefore fell within the definition of an “untoward incident.” It added that under Section 124A of the Act, the Railway Administration was liable to compensate passengers injured in such incidents, irrespective of negligence or fault on its part.
The bench noted that the survivor was travelling with a valid ticket and that the incident occurred inside a passenger coach stationed at Lakhisarai railway station in August 2012.
Rejecting the Railways’ contention that law and order at railway stations falls under the jurisdiction of the Government Railway Police (GRP) and that the offence was committed by private persons, the court ruled that such arguments did not absolve the Railways of its legal responsibility.
The High Court directed the Railways to release the compensation amount along with applicable interest to the survivor within two weeks.
