Amritsar train accident: Stunning twist

Amritsar: Even as the families of victims of Friday’s Amritsar train tragedy come to terms with what has hit them hard, a chocking proof of negligence has come to light. A video available with Times Now shows people at the Dussehra event, where the wife of Congress leader and Amritsar East MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu was chief guest, were encouraged to stand on the railway tracks. Just moments later, a speeding train mowed down and killed at 59 people and left 57 others injured.

In the video, an organiser can be seen talking on the mike to Navjot Kaur Sidhu and saying that people will stand on tracks for you and will not move even if trains pass by.

“Madam, look here, these people don't care about standing on tracks. Even if 500 trains pass by, over 5000 people will be standing on tracks for you,” one of the event organisers can be heard saying in the video. The Dussehra event where the tragedy struck was organised by local Congress leaders. Also read: 'People turned Ravan': Mobile phones, wallets of dead and injured stolen after Amritsar train accident

The question that is being asked is: if Sidhu’s wife was aware of people standing on tracks, on higher ground, to see the event as well as burning effigy of Ravan later, why did she not raise the alarm and asked organisers to move people away from the tracks.

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Navjot Kaur Sidhu is in the eye of storm amid claims that she left the accident site without bothering about the victims. However, Sidhu, the state culture minister, today defended her and said she was attending to patients at the hospital after the tragedy.

"When I talked to my wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu on Friday, she was in a hospital," he said.

Navjot Kaur Sidhu, meanwhile, said it is not her responsibility as a chief guest to confirm whether permissions have been taken for a particular event. "As a guest, it is not my responsibility to check whether permission is given or not," she told reporters.

As per details available, at least 300 people were at the event, many of them standing on rail tracks, to watch ‘Ravan dahan’ when the DMU train travelling from Jalandhar to Amritsar passed by at high speed, hitting those on the tracks. The accident occurred at Joda Phatak in Amritsar.