On 19/11/2009, after reaching at platform no 6 of Howrah Station by down Bardhaman-Howrah Local train no. M-214 around 10 am, one member of Masum observed one unconscious body was laying in between the passage of platform no 6 & 7 of Howrah Railway Station.  

Soon he went to Deputy Station Manager; Mr. K. B. Sarkar, Howrah Railway Station to intimate the fact. he came to know from him that he was already informed about the fact and already few steps has been taken by railway authority. He informed our member that the body of a male person was recovered from Bogie no. 11837 of train number C-249 UP at platform no 7 in presence of Mr. Tapan Das, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), Government Railway Police (GRP). He also added that at 8.40 am the message already conveyed to the Senior District Medical Officer of Howrah and at 9.05 am Doctor S. Guha examined the body and declared him as dead. Doctor mentioned the cause of death as ‘unknown’. The unnatural death case vide number 178/2009 of Howrah Government Railway Police Station (GRPS) has been registered.  

As a Human Rights Organization we would like to focus on few loopholes of the measures taken by Railway authority in above case.  

First, no step has been taken to reveal the identity of the person and consequently no information of the incident was intimidated to his family. It was really a painful incident.  

Secondly, no magisterial inquest of the body has been conducted, in spite of that the death case was registered in Howrah GRPS as an unnatural death. 

Here one thing we would like to refer that in opinion of our member, the person died due to starvation and so we already requested in written to the Officer in Charge of Howrah GRPS for conducting post mortem examination of the dead body by an expert autopsy surgeon at any medical college of West Bengal.  

Thirdly, according to Indian Constitution a dead-body also deserves dignity but in reality after more than one and half hour of the recovery of the body and declaration of death the dead-body was laying unattended at the railway platform in full public view.    

From a humanitarian perspective; such neglect by any government authority is undesirable and shameful.