Two Railway Protection Force constables have been dismissed from their service for “failure to discharge their duty” when their colleague shot dead three Muslim passengers and his senior officer in a moving train last year.
The dismissal orders for Constables Amay Acharya and Narendra Parmar, issued by S K S Rathod, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF, Mumbai Division, Western Railway, on Friday, Indian Express reported.
“It was the responsibility of the accused constables on duty to provide security and protection to the passengers. They, however, failed to do the same. The act of the accused constables would erode trust among passengers towards RPF and send a wrong message among other members of the force towards indiscipline,” the dismissal order said.
On 31 July last year, the railways had dismissed Railway Protection Force constable Chetan Singh Chaudhary after he killed Assistant Sub Inspector Tikaram Meena and three Muslim passengers – Abdul Kaderbhai Bhanpurwala, Sadar Mohammed Hussain and Asghar Abbas Sheikh – on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Superfast Express.
Witnesses have said that the Railway Protection Force constable walked through four coaches of the train to select his targets and asked them for their names before killing them.
After one of the Muslim victims’ body fell to the floor, Chaudhary had asked the rest of the passengers in the coach to record a video as he made a speech hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath. He said: “If you want to vote, if you want to live in India, then I say Modi and Yogi, these are the two and your Thackeray.”
The dismissal orders said that Acharya hid in the washroom of a coach while Parmar hid behind other passengers instead of intervening.
Chaudhary was booked under the Indian Penal Code for murder as well as under the Arms Act. Later, the police also added charges of kidnapping and promoting enmity on grounds of religion against him.
The court had said that it was well-established that the three Muslim passengers were selectively killed out of hatred.
