Tribunal: Pay Pak Samjhauta victim’s family

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23

The Railways Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh, has ordered the Northern Railway to pay Rs 4 lakh to the kin of Pakistani national Mohammad Waqil, who was killed in the Samjhauta Express blast on February 18, 2007.

“The manner in which the case was contested by the Railways is highly regrettable... Whosoever the deceased may be, a human life was lost.  Moreover, he (Waqil) was a guest in our country. The manner in which the case was investigated by the police and the claim not settled immediately has brought a bad name to our country,” the Bench comprising judicial member Sanjiv Dutt Sharma and member (technical) Surendra Kumar Jatav said while deciding the six-year-old case.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

The tribunal noted, “No information was provided to the applicant, despite her best efforts to know the whereabouts of her father. This shows the callous attitude of the officers assigned the job. There is no explanation why the respondent prolonged this case when the top investigating agency (NIA),

vide letter dated September 14, 2010, had already declared the deceased as a victim of the bomb blast in Samjhauta Express that occurred on February 18, 2007. Hailing from Dhingrawali village in Hafizabad district of Pakistan, the deceased’s daughters, Rahila Wakil  Tanzila and Hira Parveen, wife Hashrum and son Mohammad Rizwan had moved the tribunal on October 20, 2010, seeking Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the death of their family member.

They submitted that the deceased was travelling from Delhi to Lahore on a valid passport (KE604749)  when a blast caused fire in two of the coaches, resulting in the death of a number of passengers, Waqil being one of them. His ticket, passport and belongings were lost. The applicants sought compensation along with interest from the Railways.