Mumbai: Eight years after Kalyan resident Dravita Singh lost part of her limbs in a horrific instance of ‘fatka robbery’, the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) has allowed her claim partly and asked Central Railway to pay her Rs 4.2 lakh, plus interest, as compensation. While welcoming RCT’s order, Singh’s father, Hemant Kumar, pointed out that the trial before the sessions court, however, was yet to start.On Feb 7, 2018, Singh, then 23, had fallen off a moving local train between Sandhurst Road and Masjid stations after being hit by a stick-wielding robber. Her three fingers, a toe and a portion of her right foot were crushed after another train hit her. She underwent multiple surgeries and skin grafts before she could walk again.Singh, through her lawyer C K Sable, filed a claim before the RCT in July 2018. She stepped into the witness box and filed an affidavit, recounting the sequence of events and how she suffered injuries. She also stated that she had a valid return-journey ticket and was a bonafide passenger.The Railways’ counsel opposed her claim by producing the divisional railway manager’s report, which concluded that the incident had occurred when Singh was speaking on her phone while standing on the footboard of the train, which is an offence.The Railways’ counsel also argued that police had not found any ticket in her possession. The counsel argued that as per the motorman and train manager’s statements, Singh was knocked down by an oncoming train while running on the tracks, which amounts to trespassing and is an offence.The RCT, however, observed that “falling off a train and running behind the thief to recover a mobile and, in that process, if the applicant (Singh) sustained injuries, even if she had been infringing railway lines and was hit by a train coming from the opposite direction, it cannot be called trespassing. It is an ‘untoward incident’ defined under the Railway Act”. The RCT also observed that Singh was a bonafide passenger based on her affidavit.Singh was awarded Rs 4.2 lakh as compensation, plus 9% interest, from the date of the incident to the date of the order. Of the amount, Singh was permitted to withdraw Rs 40,000 through her savings account and the rest was to be invested in an annuity deposit scheme in a nationalised bank.Refusing to be bogged down by the traumatic incident, Singh ran the Mumbai Marathon and appeared for her graduation exam with her leg in bandages within a year. Currently, she works with a housing finance company and is simultaneously pursuing an MBA.“We were expecting the trial to be fast-tracked in the sessions court, but eight years have passed and it has not even started. Police have not been in touch with us about the status of the case,” lamented her father.Of the three accused booked in the case, one was a juvenile, while another is out on bail.The 2018 incident* Dravita Singh, then 23, fell off a running local train between Sandhurst Road and Masjid stations after a stick-wielding robber hit her to rob her phone on February 7, 2018. She saw another train approaching and tried to roll away from the tracks, but three fingers of her left hand, her toe and a portion of her right foot were crushed by that train. She also suffered a head injury and had to undergo multiple surgeries and skin grafts* CSMT Government Railway Police registered a case of attempt to commit murder and robbery under the Indian Penal Code* Police booked three persons: a 17-year-old boy who had struck Singh; Ajay Pal, who was present when the robbery occurred and helped sell Singh’s stolen phone; and Rukhsar Barbiya, a homemaker from Masjid who purchased the handset. Barbiya is out on bail* Trial yet to start
