12-year-old waves red shirt to flag track damage, prevents train accident; Railways awards him
New Delhi (PTI): A 12-year-old boy prevented a train accident in the Malda district of West Bengal as he waved his red shirt to an approaching passenger train after spotting a damaged track, officials said on Monday.
The loco-pilot picked up Mursalin Seikh's signal and applied the emergency brake immediately to stop the train just in time.
The incident took place last Thursday near the Bhaluka road yard.
"A 12-year-old boy in Malda has defined bravery after he waved his red shirt to make the loco-pilot of a speeding passenger train stop the train from crossing a rain damaged portion," Sabyasachi De, Chief Public Relations Officer, Northeast Frontier Railway, said in a statement.
He said the porion was damaged at a location where soil and the pebbles were washed away by the rain.
"The boy named Mursalin Seikh, son of a migrant labour of the nearby village, was also present in the yard with the railway staff. On noticing a rain-damaged portion under the tracks, the boy acted sensibly at that point of time and alerted the loco pilot of an approaching passenger train by waving his red shirt along with other on duty railway staff," De said.
The portion of the damaged track was repaired and the operations were resumed later.
"NF Railway authorities today rewarded the brave boy with a certificate and cash award for his valour. Malda North MP Khagen Murmu along with Divisional Railway Manager of Katihar Shri Surendra Kumar reached the boy's home and rewarded him and appreciated his effort. NFR salutes the boy's approach towards society being a teenager," De said.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
