Respond to ‘terror strike’ claim: Bombay HC to Railways, NIA

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has issued notices to the Western Railway (WR) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) to give updates on the cause of the stampede at Elphinstone station, which left 23 dead and over 30 people injured.

The court passed the directions after a petitioner told it that neither authority was able to pinpoint the cause of the incident nor was it fixing responsibility on whether there was a lapse on the part of the Railways or the police. The court has asked both authorities to respond and kept the matter for hearing after three weeks.

A division bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Mumbaikars Faisal Banaraswala and Abdul Qureshi seeking directions to get the NIA to probe the stampede on the narrow foot overbridge at Elphinstone Road station that was triggered due to a rumour. The petition had sought a probe by NIA to investigate whether this was a minor terror attack.

According to the petitioners, the incident on September 29 had occurred as the number of people using the bridge had increased and there was an urgent need to install escalators and create multiple entry and exit points for the dispersal of the large number of commuters who embarked and disembarked at the station.

The petition further said that several commuters had written to the railways regarding the problem but in vain.

The petition further submitted that the stampede was triggered due to a rumour that the bridge had collapsed and hence it could be a soft terror attack, which the NIA should investigate.

After hearing the petitioners, the bench directed the counsels for NIA and the Railways’ advocates Aruna Pai and Suresh Kumar to respond to the submissions of the petition on the next date of hearing and posted the matter for hearing after three weeks.