MANAF.M. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The above writ petition is filed with the following prayers :

(2.) The petitioner sustained a bullet injury from a misfired gun by a Railway policeman on 6/7/2012. This writ petition is filed to pay compensation to the petitioner by respondent Nos.1 and 2 for the personal injury, trauma and mental agony he suffered because of the negligence of the 4th respondent-Constable of the Railway Protection Force. The incident stated by the petitioner is admitted by the Railway. The Railway also admitted that the 4th respondent accidentally pulled the trigger of his service pistol, and the bullet, unfortunately, hit the petitioner, who was on his way to the reservation counter of Thampanoor Railway Station, Thiruvananthapuram. But the respondent railway is contesting this matter by filing a detailed counter. I am of the considered opinion that in a situation like this, the Railway ought to have risen to the occasion and redress the grievance of the petitioner without asking the victim, like the petitioner, to lead a legal battle. All legal battles are worth fighting, but some are not worth winning.

(3.) The brief facts are like this: The petitioner's wife delivered a premature baby girl, the child was on a ventilator continuously for 30 days, and consequently, the child had some illness in her eyes. Hence the petitioner and his wife used to take their child to Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, for treatment once a month in the year 2012. On 6/7/2012 at 7.30 pm, the petitioner and his wife went to the booking office in the Central Railway Station, Thampanoor, Thiruvananthapuram and moved through the Railway premises. When the petitioner reached in front of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) guard room, he was suddenly hit with a gunshot in his lower abdomen and fell down. The gunshot came from the pistol of the 4th respondent, who was on duty then. Admittedly, the gunshot was fired from the service gun of the 4th respondent mistakenly. The petitioner was taken to the hospital. The petitioner immediately underwent major surgery, and it is stated in the writ petition that 25 centimetres of small intestine were removed, and pieces of bone were also removed through the surgery. Ext.P1 is the medical report of KIMS Hospital containing the details of the injuries. It will be better to extract the surgical details found by the hospital authority in Ext.P1 medical report.