Two children were run over by a speeding train while crossing the tracks at Gulabganj railway station near here on Tuesday, triggering violent protests and arson, in which a railway employee was burnt alive and another was battling for life with serious injuries.
Siblings Mohammad Ali (5) and his eight-year-old sister Icra were crushed to death by a speeding Sampark Kranti Express at Gulabganj station, when they were crossing the tracks in the absence of a foot overbridge from under a stationary goods train, railway sources said.
Sources said the incident apparently occurred as no announcement was made about the fast-approaching Sampark Kranti Express, which does not halt at Gulabganj.
Earlier reports attributed to police had said that the children got crushed by a goods train, which moved suddenly when they were crossing from under it.
As the news about the tragedy spread, angry villagers disrupted rail traffic by blocking both up and down tracks and then set on fire the station building, trapping assistant station master Sanket Bansal and point supervisor Bhagwan Das inside.
A team from the nearby police station reached the spot to control the situation but by then both had received serious burn injuries.
While Das succumbed before he could receive medical help, Bansal was shifted to Bhopal in a critical condition.
Several trains were halted at Bina, Bhopal and Vidisha stations due to the protest, which paralysed train services on the busy Delhi-Chennai route for nearly four-and-a-half hours.
Vidisha Collector Anand Sharma and Superintendent of Police B.P. Chandrawanshi intervened and persuaded the villagers to call off the protest.
Keywords: Sampark Kranti Express, Gulabganj station, Vidisha
It is not right on part of the mob to vent their anger on the railway
employees. The Indian railways keeps making repeated announcements
urging people to take care of themselves and their wards while going
past railway tracks and unmanned crossings.It is convenient for a
frenzied mob to settle personal scores based on misdirected angst but
who is answerable to the families of the hapless railway employees who
have been treated as a sacrificial lamb. The primary responsibility of
this entire episode rests on the parents who did not take care of
their children. The mob also shares a part in this crime and must be
punished. We have justice in our society and there is no place for
lynching mobs. One only hopes that no overactive person suggests
compensation for the children's death like they did every time some
child falls into a pit dug for a borewell. It is a simple case of
negligence by the parents and must be treted like that.
Government should take strong action against the mob involved in this gruesome murder.... this should be a lesson taught to people who try taking law into their hands and do such unlawful acts...
Indian Govt. Plz take a hard step over it. Stop all services in Gulab
Its really sad that two small kids were victims of this tragedy. A part of the blame should be put on the unorganized Indian Railways too. But without question , the major blame lies on the caretakers of the children . Above all , its pathetic that two innocent people had to suffer for the negligence of others.
Two innocent young lives lost due to ignorance of the railways and two adult lives lost to the madness of the villagers. Railways is always calculative and would not take up a project of putting a foot bridge for the station because the station doesn't give much revenue to the railways. It cannot be so calculative.
Can't blame the children either. How do we expect 5 and 8 year olds to be so careful and thoughtful of safety. Even i do remember i used to pass under a stationary goods train and there was no other way to go to the other side or wait for the train to leave, may be after two or 3 hours.
Hope the railways wakes up to this atleast now. So it can safeguard the lives of poor people and also of it's employees from the rage of the angry villagers such as in this case.
A horrible event. It is sad that two children lost their lives in an
accident. But the blame must rest on their parents or guardians and not
on the railway staff. If somebody should be punished, they (the
parents) should be. It appears that somebody settled private scores
with the railway employees using this incident as a cover
The whole village should be relocated from close to trains into the forests in MP where they can live in peace with wild animals.. Maybe burn all their belongings and homes so that they can become adivasis...
Were the parents of the kids deaf and dumb?? Even if no announcement was made,could people not hear sound of Train Engine nor see it?? It has become a fashion to vent anger on someone else for mistake committed by someone else.
Whoever was at fault,burning people alive is sheer madness.Our democracy is becoming a mobocracy,people cannot be allowed to vent out their violent emotions in such gruesome fashion..they must remember the station master and his assistant also have families.what were the RPF and police doing?Could the incident have been prevented from escalating to the death of the station master by timely deployment of the Rapid action force or the local police??
This is gruesome, where is the law of the land ? Want kind of place is this ? The perpetrators must be punished, severely. This game is end game, the country and its rulers should realise that we are drifting into a marauding , barbaric society.
The mob should be punished with the full might of the law. This is unacceptable.
Its really sad that 2 small kids got in to this sort of tragedy but it
is more heartening that 2 were burnt alive. I dont understand how they
could do like that... Some message has to be passed on to rest to avoid
such things in future.
What a shameful act by mob. Such incident happening on the day of Rail Budget
shows the sorry state of affairs of railway security.
burning humans in India is a casual affair even the supreme court did not give exemplary punishment in Graham Staines case. So one need not be surprised by this case and future such cases.
The guilty should be punished and an example should be set that doing such a crime against the people on govt duty wont be tolerated.
Its tragic that the children died but the villagers are nobody to judge the situation and take such an extreme step, they should be punished for their brutality. And what was RPF doing on the station. A shame for Railways on the day on Railway budget.
This is tragic. While our hearts go out to the families of children
killed in this incident, the mobocracy that the villagers were trying
to drive has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Children
cannot be allowed to cross railway lines with anyone accompanying
them. It is entirely the parents' negligence. The villagers have
orphaned two families whose breadwinners have been just set on fire
for no fault of theirs. The perpetrators of this act should be brought
to book and punished. There is no need for television sets in the
trains which are only going to increase noise levels. Railway minister
should focus on attending to basic issues like safety of railway users
as well as the staff and cleanliness;
what shame that people would burn the station master for an accident.
gruesome - cruel vendetta. what were the parents of the 8 & 5 year olds
doing? they should have been burnt. and instead, some innocent staff die
horrendously for a trivial mistake. also, who asked people to cross the
line at such close distance to trains - even if overbridges were not
there, people must maintain some factor of safety. what kind of people
are these - is there no law? these murderers must be hanged
how pathetic is our indian railways system....bansal ji says indias
railways the third best in the world transport ,,,,,of course without
foot over bridges,,,fire accidents only once in a month,,,women get
thrown out and murdered every fortnight.time some thing is done
,,,,deploy cctv cams in all compartments...railway stations...
Nothing can be more antagonistic than this incident which reiterates that budgetary arthimetics need not always reflect the existing ground realities - When will the mammoth Railways in India be run as a professional company rather than as a department for promoting political melodramas?
One man lost his life for no mistake of his. The guilty should be
punished for murder. How can station master or the station staff be held
responsible for careless kids walking on tracks?
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