The Supreme Court has asked the Attorney General to inform the top court about the steps taken, including the automatic train protection system ‘Kavach’, to prevent train accidents in the country. The apex court has granted four weeks of time to the Centre to submit its report on the measures taken towards the same.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan was hearing a petition which raised the issue of safety measures to prevent train accidents. The matter will be next heard by the top court after four weeks.
Referring to the train accident in Odisha’s Balasore district in June last year, the petitioner said a protection system was launched by the government so that collision of trains could be prevented. He said lot of accidents have taken place in the past due to collision of trains.
The plea has sought directions to the Centre to set up an expert commission headed by a retired judge of the apex court and consisting of technical members to analyse and review the risk and safety parameters in the railway system and to suggest systematic safety modifications for strengthening the safety mechanism and submit its report to the court.
It claimed that non-implementation of ‘kavach’ system at the earliest has resulted in a massive loss of life and damage of public property which imputes direct liability of gross negligence and breach of duty of care by respondent authorities.
It has also sought the issuance of guidelines for the implementation of the ‘kavach’ system in Indian Railways with immediate effect. The plea sought specific directions to the government for the enforcement of the Railway Accidents Protective measures and to strengthen such measures to avoid accidents in the future and safeguard the fundamental right of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Odisha Train Tragedy
The tragic incident took place on June 2, 2023, when the Coromandel Express collided with a stationary freight train at Bahanaga Bazar station in Odisha’s Balasore district. This collision resulted in the derailment of some coaches, which then collided with the Yeshwantpur-Howrah Express. The accident claimed the lives of over 290 people and left over 1,200 injured.
Notably, the probe into the case was handed over to CBI in June 2023. The Central Bureau of Investigation concluded its probe into the accident in September, 2023. This was the third time in the past 10 years that a train accident case was probed by a central investigation agency. In 2010, the CBI investigated the Jnaneswari crash, and six years later the NIA probed the Kanpur train accident.
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