A station master in Chhattisgarh mistakenly sent a goods train on a wrong route in a Maoist-affected area while he was on a phone call with his wife. His casual ‘OK’ during the call was misinterpreted by staff as a green signal, leading to a loss of Rs 3 crore for the Indian Railways.
The incident also exacerbated tensions in the stationmaster’s already strained marriage, leading to a lengthy divorce legal battle. According to the Times of India, the couple recently finalized their divorce after 12 years of legal proceedings.
That night, the station master of Visakhapatnam, while on duty, had a heated telephone conversation with his wife, which ended with « We’ll talk at home, okay? » « . Unaware that his microphone was on, his colleague mistook “OK” for permission to send a goods train into a restricted area affected by Maoists. Fortunately, no accident occurred, but the mistake led to Indian Railways paying a fine of Rs 3 million for violating night regulations.
Following his suspension, the station master filed for divorce in the family court in Visakhapatnam. In response, his wife complained to him and his family. She then successfully petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer the case to Durg, her hometown, citing death threats.
However, when Durg’s family court rejected his divorce petition, the official approached the Chhattisgarh High Court. A division court found the wife’s accusations against him and his family to be false, and eventually granted the divorce.
The bench observed that the wife’s argument during the phone call, which led to the ‘OK’ incident, as well as her baseless accusations, amounted to « cruelty » towards her husband.
The High Court found the wife’s accusations regarding her husband’s affair, demands for dowry and cruelty to be baseless. A division bench granted divorce to the husband, finding that his constant arguments, misrepresentations and baseless allegations amounted to “mental cruelty”.
