Eyes Fixed On IAS, Student Faces Blurring Of Vision After Train Attack

Twenty-four-year old Deenbandhu Diwakar, a gold medalist from Patna University, had come to the Capital hoping to achieve his lifelong dream — that of joining the elite Indian civil services. Instead, Tuesday found him battling for his eyesight at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Diwakar, a B.Ed student of Delhi University, had gone on an educational trip to Bhopal. While returning on Monday, he and his 63 friends were attacked by a mob consisting of daily passengers on the Kosi-Palwal rail route.

The S-9 reserved coach they were travelling in while returning to Delhi was decoupled from the rest of the train and surrounded by a mob of more than 60 miscreants who smashed windowpanes, pelted the students with stones and threw flaming missiles dipped in kerosene in a bid to set it afire. This was reported by TOI on Tuesday.

When Diwakar tried to throw back one of the flaming fireballs thrown inside the coach through the broken emergency window, the young postgraduate, hailing from Sasaram in Bihar, was hit on his right eye by a stone thrown by someone in the mob.

"He strongly believed in women's dignity and could not resist protesting when the five local passengers started passing lewd comments on his fellow girl students," said Muktesh Manohar, the elder brother of Diwakar who is studying LLB at Benaras Hindu University.

Meanwhile, doctors at AIIMS stated that Diwakar's eyesight continues to be critical. "He was shifted from the Trauma Centre on Monday afternoon. He was operated under the guidance of Dr Anand Aggarwal around 2 am in the morning. His eyesight continues to be critical," said a doctor at the hospital.

"The doctors told me that his eyeball was rectified by the first operation. But he will need to undergo a couple of more operations to set his retina right," said Manohar.

Diwakar's parents had left from their home in Nokha near Sasaram. They are expected to reach Delhi on Wednesday. Diwakar's father is a high school teacher and has two daughters. "We are planning to refer him to Shankar Netralaya in Chennai. But we will go by the advice of the doctors here," added Manohar.

Diwakar, who had come to Delhi eleven months ago was staying at Permanand Colony in Mukherjee Nagar. "He chose that place since he thought that the place was ideal to prepare for civil services," said his friends.

Initially, Diwakar was reluctant to let the news of his injury trickle down to family members. It was only after he was informed about his impeding surgery that he panicked and decided to call his parents back home. "His youngest sister's wedding is coming up next month and the family was busy preparing for the occasion. He did not want to increase its anxiety," added his brother.

DUSU president, Amrita, meanwhile, has decided to meet Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and request her government to bear the cost of treatment incurred by Diwakar.

Rlys step up drive to nab culprits:

NEW DELHI: The railways said that they had contacted the local police and are in constant touch with the RPF in trying to identify and book the miscreants. "We have sent the RPF men on duty on the 2155 Bhopal Express to Solaka and work with the local police in tandem to try and identify the locals involved in the incident. We have also launched a special drive in this section to try and round up the trouble makers," said B Pandey, CPRO, North Central Railway.
Northern Railway officials said that the Delhi-Mathura-Palwal route was being closely monitored to book the eveteasers and male passengers travelling in the ladies coaches. "The problem is much more severe in this route than the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Kanpur route. With the law being slack, most get away by paying a token fine. Only those who are unable to pay the fine are jailed under the Railway Act," said a senior railway official.

Compare this — while the total number of prosecutions by the RPF women squad from October to February in both Palwal and Ghaziabad routes were 3738, those prosecuted by Virangana Squad alone in the Palwal route in the same period was 2658. "We receive regular complaints from women passengers about misbehaviour and harassment on this route. We are planning to carry out the checks everyday from now on. Our checks will cover express and mail trains too," the official added.

Courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com