Woman dies by electrocution at New Delhi Railway Station

Sakshi Ahuja, a school teacher who lived in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar, was going to catch a train to Chandigarh

A 35-year-old woman, who stepped onto a flooded street at the New Delhi Railway Station on Sunday morning, died by electrocution after accidentally coming into contact with a loose wire from a nearby electrical installation, police officers and railway officials aware of the matter said.

The incident occurred when Sakshi Ahuja stepped off a concrete divider onto a waterlogged stretch near a light pole close to exit gate number 1. Eyewitnesses said that as soon as Ahuja stepped into the water, she suffered an electric shock and screamed before collapsing in the rainwater. (ANI)

The victim, identified as Sakshi Ahuja, a school teacher who lived in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar, was at the parking lot on the Paharganj side of the station and was hurrying to catch a train to Chandigarh, her family members who accompanied her said. Taxi drivers present at the accident site said Ahuja’s two children, parents, and two siblings had a narrow escape as they were pulled away from the waterlogged road just in time.

Ahuja, however, remained stuck in the waterlogged road for nearly 25 minutes, eyewitnesses said, with the taxi drivers using wooden planks to try and save her. After she was finally pulled out, she was rushed to Lady Hardinge hospital in a taxi, where she was brought dead.

Northern Railway said that a probe is underway so that such an accident does not occur again. Deputy commissioner of police (railways) Apoorva Gupta, meanwhile, said that a case has been registered under Indian Penal Code sections dealing with negligent conduct with respect to machinery and death by negligence, adding that a probe is on.

Ahuja’s death spotlights the sorry state of public infrastructure, even in a place like the national capital. Electrical utilities are as critical as they are dangerous and it beggars belief how such an oversight – livewires in contact with high touchpoints – could take place. Ahuja’s death was avoidable and accountability must be fixed in order to prevent any more needless harm.

According to Ahuja’s uncle Ajay Chopra, his niece and her family had booked tickets on the Vande Bharat train to Chandigarh as they were planning to visit tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh.

Chopra said that they were running late, so when the family arrived at the station, Ahuja , her children Ananya, 9, and Raghav, 7, and her sister Madhvi Chopra got off at the station’s parking, while her parents Lokesh and Praveen Chopra, and her brother Vinayak Chopra went to the park the car.

According to railway officials and eyewitnesses, the incident occurred when Ahuja stepped off a concrete divider onto a waterlogged stretch near a light pole close to exit gate number 1. Eyewitnesses said that as soon as Ahuja stepped into the water, she suffered an electric shock and screamed before collapsing in the rainwater. Madhvi tried to help her, and she also suffered shock, but some taxi drivers present nearby immediately pulled her and the children away.

“From the initial investigation, it appears that the tragedy happened due to electrocution that happened because of water logging by rains. It seems that electricity leakage took place due to insulation failure. It’s not because of any insufficiency in the working system of the railways. A probe is being done so that such tragedy does not happen again. Also, an electric safety drive has been launched to avoid a rerun of the incident,” said Deepak Kumar, chief public relation officer (CPRO) of Northern Railway.

“A detailed enquiry will be conducted and the guilty will be punished. A system is also being set in place to ensure the non-occurrence of such incidents in future,” he added.

Some taxi drivers at the spot said the accident was waiting to happen, pointing out that the safety boxes of many streetlight poles were lying open for several days, while underground wires were left exposed at the station’s premises.

“The tragedy was waiting to happen as the agencies concerned are not paying any attention towards the open wires,” said Rajender Nayak, a taxi driver.

However, a discom official, who asked to remain anonymous, said the high mast lights at New Delhi Railway Station are not maintained by the discom that supplies electricity to the station, and emphasised that the internal electricity distribution network at the station, including at the parking lot in question, was neither owned nor maintained by the discom.

“No signs of leakage have been detected in the limited discom network at the railway station,” the official said.

A police officer associated with the case, declining to be named, said, “We are trying to ascertain which all agencies owned the electricity poles and the towers and whose negligence and fault led to electricity flow in the waterlogged area.”

The Northern Railway’s Delhi division said it has initiated an internal inquiry to ascertain the reason for the electrocution, and to fix responsibility of the agencies or officials whose negligence led to the woman’s death.

DCP Gupta said, “Madhvi gave a complaint alleging negligence. Accordingly, a case of negligent conduct with respect to machinery and death by negligence was registered under Indian Penal Code’s sections 287 and 304A. The incident spot was inspected by forensic experts for further probe.”

She added, “We have spoken to officers in the Indian Railways, who are enquiring into the matter on their own end and will determine who was responsible for the negligence. Also, a safety audit of all such poles and electricity infrastructure is being conducted to prevent any such incident in the future.”