The incident occurred on June 23, when Puja, trying to board a train that had just started moving, fell into the gap between a train and platform 1 at Dadar station. Claiming that the distance was enormous and so, their daughter slipped into it rather than landing on the platform when she lost her balance, Puja's family has requested the Western Railway to "amend the fault immediately" so that no one else meets a similar fate.
A second-year student at Anjuman-I-Islam's institute of hotel management in south Mumbai and youngest of three sisters, Puja stays in Thane with her parents. On the fateful day, around 9.30am, she reached Dadar station from where she was supposed to take a train to Bandra, where she was supposed to attend training at Taj Lands End. "Even as the train started pulling out of platform 1, Puja tried to jump into it. Puja had a firm grip of the rod at the compartment door, but she failed to hoist herself into the coach as the distance between the platform and the train was huge," said her college professor, Dilip Jadhav. What followed was horrifying. "Puja was dragged for some distance by the train, before she lost her grip on the rod. She then slipped into the gap between the local and the platform and lost a leg on the spot," Jadhav added.
Patrolling policemen pulled Puja out after the train passed. "My daughter was conscious and bleeding. The police called us from her mobile and took her to Sion hospital. I was at home and rushed to the hospital," the woman's father, Dhananjay, told TOI. At the hospital, doctors advised that Puja's second leg should also be amputated to prevent infection from spreading. Puja has not sustained any other injury. "Puja's condition is stable, but we have to keep her under observation for a few more days," said a doctor.
Dhananjay, his wife and other daughters have been taking turns to stay with Puja at the trauma ward at the hospital. "No railway official has visited the hospital. Nothing can compensate our loss," Dhananjay said. "We want the authorities to take corrective measures immediately."
The GRP, which has recorded Puja's statement, said they were finding out if the platform or the train footboard was slippery. Railway officials, however, claimed that records maintained at the station master's office showed trespassing as the reason for the mishap. But WR chief PROSharat Chandrayan said, "The police are investigating the reason."
