No jail for man who threw stone from train, hit RPF cop; fine enough: Court

Time of India

16-05-2025

Mumbai: A sessions court has held that a man's decision to throw a stone from a moving train was a reckless act that endangered people on a platform of Sewri station in 2012, but it chose not to jail him.
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Pointing out that he was only 20 then, it said no purpose would be served by sending him to jail. Instead, it imposed only a fine of Rs 500, saying that would meet the ends of justice.
The maximum sentence the offence attracted was six months in jail. The stone thrown by the accused,
, a Mankhurd resident, struck an RPF constable at Sewri station, leaving him with a cheek injury. Another constable was injured in a similar manner the same day at GTB station, but he could not identify the accused in court.
According to the prosecution, on July 6, 2012, RPF constable Mahindra Ahire was on duty at platform 1 of Sewri station. While a local train was passing by, a young man in the last luggage compartment yelled and threw a stone at him, hitting him below the right eye and causing a minor injury. Ahire attempted to catch the man, but the train picked up speed and left the station. Ahire attended to his injury, completing his duty and then went to the Wadala RPF office to report the incident to his superior.
There, he learned that RPF head constable Hemant Choudhari had also been struck on a leg by a stone thrown from the same train and the description of both suspects matched. Later, Ahire went to Wadala railway police station and lodged a complaint. The investigating officer sent him to St George Hospital for an examination and a medical report documenting his injury was issued.
On Aug 11 that year, while on patrolling duty at Sewri station, Ahire spotted Siddiqui and caught him.
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Siddiqui was taken to Wadala railway police station and granted bail on three days later.
Ahire, Choudhari, the investigating officer, and the medical officer deposed during the trial. The judge rejected the accused's submissions that the stone used in this offence was not seized. "One cannot be oblivious of the spot and circumstances of the incident. Here, a stone was pelted from a running local train, the injured was on the platform, and the stone suddenly hit the informant (Ahire).
The informant immediately rushed towards the local train to catch that boy, but he could not catch him as the local train was too fast.
It was a crowded place. In such circumstances, one cannot expect the informant to search for that stone as he was hurt," additional sessions judge V G Raghuwanshi said.
Siddiqui was booked under IPC sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from his duty), 337 (causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others), and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty).