The Bombay High Court on Wednesday refused compensation to a man injured in a railway accident, invoking American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald to underscore the dangers of alcohol. A copy of the order, issued by a single bench of Justice Jitendra Jain and made available on Thursday, emphasized the destructive effects of drinking.
The court dismissed an appeal filed by a city resident who had challenged a 2014 order of the Railway Claims Tribunal denying him compensation for injuries sustained on a railway platform.
The bench noted that the applicant’s injury occurred while he was intoxicated. "Alcohol ruins, it ruins everything. Physical and mental health, relationships, causes family breakdown, social dysfunction, career disruption and has severe long-term lifestyle consequences," the HC said in its order.
"I am reminded of this quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald. First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you," Justice Jain added.
The applicant, a lab assistant with Bombay Hospital, stated that around midnight on March 10, 2001, he was waiting at Marine Lines station to board a train when he was struck by an approaching train. He was initially taken to GT Hospital and later transferred to Bombay Hospital, according to which he had consumed large quantities of liquor.
The court said it could not classify the incident as “untoward” and therefore liable for compensation. "When a person is so heavily drunk, then his act of standing close to the border of the platform would be a case falling under Section 124A of the Railways Act, which bars compensation if the person is intoxicated," the HC said.
