KOCHI: The 36-year-old teacher who died after falling from the Nagarcoil-Kottayam passenger train at Tiruvalla railway station was laid to rest at her parish church at Melukavu in Meenachil taluk of Kottayam district on Thursday. Even as the teacher was laid to rest in the presence of her near and dear ones, besides her fellow passengers, the question remains: who did it.
A teacher who used to travel with Jincy John said the latter’s husband, James J K, works in the electrical section of the Railways. She said, “We are yet to come to terms with the tragedy. If there was adequate security in the train or at the railway station, such persons (referring to an unidentified man who allegedly entered the ladies compartment) would not have entered the train.”
Jincy John, who taught at GHSS, Vettoor in Varkala, is also survived by daughter Jenitta James who studies in Class IV and son Jerome James who is an LKG student. The police inquest and postmortem examination were completed before handing over the body to her family.
According to Nisar, a passenger, the teacher’s death is shrouded in mystery. “We can easily rule out suicide since she was a fighter. She had overcome marital problems and recently constructed a house for which she had taken a loan of Rs 40 lakh from the bank. She lived for her children,” he said.
He said, “The woman passengers, who were in the compartment with her till Tiruvalla, also agree. According to these passengers, the teacher had been talking to her mother over the phone for more than 15 minutes and was heard promising the latter to visit her very soon. A person who plans to die by suicide will never do that. Something untoward might have happened inside the compartment.”
“However, this will be clear only when the police nab the man who was seen getting into the ladies compartment after the train moved on from the station. But when we contacted the police, they said that the case comes under the jurisdiction of the railway police,” said Lyons J, secretary, Friends on Rails. According to him, the Railways needs to carry out an air-tight investigation into the incident.
“If they fail to do that, it will show the lackadaisical attitude of the RPF and the Railways,” said Nisar. It is now alleged that the CCTV camera near the end of the platform has been out of order for quite sometime, he added. “We, the passengers, have decided to follow the progress of the investigation and will do everything in our power to see that the teacher gets justice.”
Meanwhile, Lyons said it is high time the Railways sat up and took notice of the lax security at the railway stations. “Anybody can come to the platforms and go. At many stations, the back entrance has no security personnel and remains open,” he said.