Elphinstone Road stampede: Petition filed in Bombay HC seeking NIA probe into tragedy

A petition was filed in the Bombay High Court on Tuesday by Faisal Yusuf Banaraswala seeking a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)  into the Elphinstone Road stampede.

Petition filed by one Faisal Yusuf Banaraswala in Bombay High Court seeking NIA investigation into #Elphistonestampede

— ANI (@ANI) October 3, 2017

A public interest litigation (PIL) was also filed in the Bombay High Court on 30 September — the day after the incident happened — seeking that railway officials be booked for negligence and culpable homicide in connection with the stampede. The PIL was submitted on Friday to the high court registry by city resident Pradeep Bhalekar. “The petition has been submitted to the registry. We will mention it on 3 October,” Bhalekar’s advocate Nitin Satpute said. The petition  sought an inquiry into the incident, urging the high court to supervise the matter and issue appropriate directions. “This is complete negligence on part of the railways. A case under section 304 (II) of the IPC for culpable homicide needs to be registered against the railway officials concerned,” the petition said. [caption id=“attachment_3997829” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. News18[/caption] The plea also sought adequate measures to ensure safety of commuters. “The railways has to be also directed to take action against illegal hawkers and encroachers on foot over-bridges (FoB) to reduce crowding,” the PIL said. Twenty-three passengers were killed and 36 injured in a deadly rush-hour stampede that occurred on a narrow foot overbridge connecting the Elphinstone Road railway station to Parel station on 29 September. In the wake of the disaster, railway minister Piyush Goyal promised to widen foot-over bridges across Mumbai’s suburban railway system. Previously, the demand for such a move was made in a 2015 report by the  Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which specifically highlighted the structural default in the Elphinstone Road station bridge. Various political parties slammed the government for going ahead with the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train worth 100 crore while safety in Mumbai locals was neglected. The Nationalist Congress Party which had earlier demanded the resignation of Goyal, held a rally on Tuesday at Mumbai’s Kalwa station to condemn the incident. Besides, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray had warned the Centre and the Maharashtra government that his party won’t let even a single brick be laid for the project, until basic infrastructure is provided to Mumbai citizens. “While people are struggling to survive in the cities, Modi is asking them to do yoga and campaign for Swachh Bharat. We will launch a ’no bullet train campaign’,” Thackeray said slamming the Modi government. With inputs from PTI