P A NARAYANAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Special leave granted.

(2.) The appellant is aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court dated 1st July, 1991 by which his appeal against summary dismissal of Writ Petition No. 2048 of 1985 was dismissed.

(3.) It is an unfortunate case. The wife of the appellant Smt. Shantadevi was at the relevant time working as a Senior Lecturer in English. On 3rd January, 1981, the fateful day, she left for her college and travelled, as usual, by Harbour Line local train to Bandra from Kings Circle. From Bandra, she boarded Western Railway local train for Andheri. She was travelling on a first class railway pass in the first class ladies' compartment. Before she could reach her destination at Andheri, she was criminally assaulted and also robbed of her gold chain, three bangles and a wrist watch between Bandra and Andheri railway station while the train was in motion. She pulled the alarm chain but despite of the ringing of the alarm bell neither the guard nor the motorman stopped the train. She ultimately succumbed to the injuries in the compartment. The guard, in his statement recorded during the criminal trial by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bombay, admitted that "After I heard the bell, I looked to the eastern and western side of the train and I could not find any untoward incident. Meanwhile the driver had reduced his speed of the train and asked me by giving two beats whether train should stop or not. In reply I gave two beats asking the driver to proceed as there was no necessity to stop the train." The guard went on to admit that because of clearance for the signal not having been obtained, the train stopped towards the south of gate No. 22 for about a minute and "even at that time the bell in his cabin was ringing." The train reached platform No. 4 of Andheri railway station at 10.47 a.m. At Andheri railway station, the guard came near the ladies' first class compartment from where the alarm chain had been pulled. He peeped inside and found that a woman was living in a pool of blood. On being asked.