Hoshiyar Singh, a fencing talent with national games medal after his name, passed away in a train accident on friday. But what more makes it a news is the allegations that are brought against the Railway Police.
Singh, along with his child,wife and mother were travelling back from Mathura to his hometown Kasganj on Wednesday. He himself was in a general compartment while the rest were in the adjoining compartment reserved for women. He got down in Sikandra Rao station and got in the ladies’ compartment to meet his ailing wife where two Government Railway Police (GRP) constables asked him to pay a fine of 200 rupees for entering the compartment. Singh refused to do so and things went worse.
“He even begged to them to let him be with me for some time as I was not keeping money, but all they were interested in was money. When he refused, they pushed him off the moving train” is what Jyoti, Hoshiyar’s wife, had to say.
Hoshiyar, a physically challenged fencer, won the bronze medal in the 2005 under 17 national championship in Kerala. After this unfortunate incident,sports persons and social acitivists raised up their voice in favour of Hoshiyar and his family.
GN Khanna, the superintendent of railway police, has a different story though. “Singh got down at the station to refill his bottle at one of the station water taps. But before he could board the train, it started pulling out around 7.30pm. He ran but couldn’t catch the door handle and slipped through the gap between the platform and the tracks. He was physically challenged in one hand,” he quoted.
The officer added that when the two constables, who were three coaches ahead of Singh’s, saw the man fall through the gap, they pulled the chain to stop the train.
“They along with station staff pulled out the mutilated body of Singh. In the meantime, as soon as the train stopped, his family members and some other people had begun shouting that the constables had thrown the man out.”
According to sources, GRP has lodged a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against two constables, a guard of the Mathura-Kasganj passenger train and a few officials of Sikandra Rao station as well. While asked of the incidence, railway minister Suresh Prabhu said a detailed investigation has already been ordered.