Jalgaon, January 22: There was chaos at Paranda railway station in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra when a rumour spread that the Pushpak Express was on fire. After this rumour, the passengers on the train started jumping from the train to save their lives. Meanwhile, the Karnataka Express coming from the front crushed many people.

The Pushpak Express was going from Lucknow to Mumbai. At the same time, the Karnataka Express going from Manmad to Bhusaval was passing through the other track.

This incident happened around 5 pm. After the rumour of fire in the train, the passengers on the train were panicked and started jumping from the train to save their lives. Meanwhile, the passengers pulled the chain of the train and the train stopped.

According to the information, there was chaos after the rumour of fire in the Pushpak Express spread. The passengers pulled the chain and started jumping from the train. After this, the passengers came under the grip of the Karnataka Express coming on the other track. After getting information about the incident, railway officials have reached the spot.

It is being told that Pushpak Express was coming near Paranda railway station. When the motorman of the train applied brakes, sparks started coming out of the wheels. Meanwhile, a rumour spread among the passengers that the train has caught fire and the frightened people started jumping from the coach. It is not clear yet how many passengers have died.

Jalgaon SP said that after jumping from the train, the Karnataka Express coming from the front crushed the passengers. 8 to 10 people have died in this accident and 30 to 40 people are reported to be injured.

New Delhi, Jan 22: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed January 29 for hearing the matter where it has taken suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August 2024.

“We will take it up at 2 pm next Wednesday (January 29),” said a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and KV Viswanathan as it deferred the hearing due to paucity of time.

The CJI Khanna-led Bench asked senior advocate Karuna Nundy, representing the associations of medical professionals, to provide a copy of interlocutory applications filed to the other side.

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the verdict of a Kolkata special court awarding life imprisonment to Sanjay Roy, the sole accused and the convict in the rape and murder case of the woman doctor.

As the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday morning before a division bench of Justices Debangshu Basak and Shabbar Rashidi, the CBI challenged the petition filed by the state government and questioned the grounds on which it could make such an appeal.

Deputy Solicitor General, Rajdeep Majumdar, argued that it was only the CBI, which is the investigating agency in the case, and the victim’s parents who could move such a plea at a higher court, and not the state government, which is not a party in the case.

To support his contention, Majumdar referred to a case filed by the CBI against former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, where the state government’s plea was not considered by the Patna High Court.

Whether the West Bengal government’s petition will be admissible or not will be decided by the Calcutta High Court on January 27.

Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the Bengal government would move the Calcutta High Court challenging the quantum of the sentence and the state government would be seeking the death penalty for the convict.

“I am convinced that it is indeed a rarest of rare cases which demands capital punishment. We want to insist upon the death penalty in this most sinister and sensitive case,” the Chief Minister said.

While pronouncing the quantum of the sentence, special court judge Anirban Das said that the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) contention that Roy’s offence in the matter was “the rarest and rare crimes” was not tenable.

Hence, the judge observed that instead of the “death penalty”, Roy, an erstwhile civic volunteer attached to Kolkata Police, be sentenced to “life imprisonment”. Apart from that a fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed on Roy.

The special court, at the same time, directed the West Bengal government to pay a compensation of Rs 17 lakh to the family of the deceased victim.

It observed that since the victim was raped and murdered at her workplace, which is a state-government entity, the West Bengal government is legally bound to pay compensation to the victim’s family.

In an earlier hearing held in November 2024, the Supreme Court had remarked that it would not pass any direction to transfer the trial of the ghastly rape and murder case outside West Bengal.

A bench, headed by then CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, turned down the oral prayer made by a lawyer seeking transfer of trial outside West Bengal.

“Yes, we have transferred cases (of gender violence) in Manipur. But we are not doing anything like that here,” it had remarked.

The apex court had noted that the trial would commence on November 11 at a special court in Kolkata after charges were framed against the “sole prime accused” in the case, Sanjay Roy.

The process of the framing of charges was completed on November 4, exactly 87 days after the body of the woman junior doctor was discovered at a seminar hall within the state-run R.G. Kar premises on the morning of August 9, 2024.

In October, the CBI filed its first charge sheet against Roy, a civic volunteer with Kolkata Police, in the alleged rape and murder case.

In the charge sheet, the CBI did not rule out the possibilities of a larger conspiracy behind the macabre crime that prompted alleged events of tampering and altering of evidence during the initial phase of the investigation which was carried out by Kolkata Police.

Besides Roy, two others arrested by the CBI officials in the matter are RG Kar Medical College and Hospital’s former Principal, Sandip Ghosh, and the former SHO of Tala Police Station, Abhijit Mondal. RG Kar comes under the jurisdiction of Tala Police Station.

The main charges against Ghosh and Mondal are for misleading the investigation when the Kolkata Police were probing the matter before it was handed over to CBI by the Calcutta High Court.

Both have been accused of tampering with evidence in the case. Taking suo moto cognisance of the rape and murder case of the junior doctor at the state-run R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the Supreme Court had termed the incident “horrific,” which raises the “systemic issue of safety of doctors across the country”.

“We are deeply concerned about the fact that there is an absence of safe conditions of work for young doctors across the country, particularly, public hospitals,” it had said.

The apex court had ordered the formation of the NTF (National Task Force) to suggest measures for the security of medical professionals across the country, observing that the safety of doctors is the “highest national concern”.

Guwahati/Imphal, Jan 22: In a rare gesture, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has awarded a Commendation Certificate to the Assam Police Director General and eight other police officers for providing training to 1,946 police personnel of Manipur, officials said on Wednesday.

A spokesman of Assam police said that the Manipur Chief Minister has awarded the Commendation Certificates to Assam police DGP G.P. Singh, Special DGP Harmeet Singh and seven other officers in recognition of providing training to the Manipur police personnel.

The Commendation Certificate was received by Inspector General of Assam Police, Law and Order, Akhilesh Kumar Singh in Imphal at a function on the occasion of Statehood Day on Tuesday.

In all, 1,984 recruits of Manipur police took part in training at the Lachit Borphukan Police Academy (LBPA) in January last year and 1,946 recruits successfully completed their training on December 23 last year.

The Manipur Chief Minister attended the passing out parade of the newly recruited Manipur police personnel at LBPA at Dergaon in Assam’s Golaghat district on December 23.

Chief Minister Singh had said that since the situation in Manipur is not conducive, he earlier approached Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to provide training to the new recruits of Manipur police personnel and Sarma immediately agreed.

“Assam and Manipur’s old relationship is once again visible,” Singh had said and appreciated the Assam Chief Minister, Assam Police DGP, Special DGP and other Assam police officers for providing training to the newly recruited Manipur police personnel.

According to officials, out of the 1,946 recruits, caste distribution is diverse with 62 per cent being non-tribal Meiteis, 12 per cent being tribal Kuki-Zo and the remaining 26 per cent belonging to Naga and other tribes. Manipur Chief Minister earlier said that given the current law and order situation in the state, the newly recruited constables would undergo specialised training.

“The specialised training is essential to enhance the strength and readiness of the police force to ensure safety and security across Manipur. We are committed to equipping our police personnel with the best facilities and training to meet any challenges effectively,” Singh had said.