At least six persons were killed and five injured after a passenger train collided with a goods train near the Bilaspur railway station in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday (November 4, 2025), officials said. The Railway Ministry has ordered an inquiry.

Rescue operations are currently under way.

“An unexpected incident occurred today near Bilaspur station, involving the derailment of a freight train and a local MEMU. Six people died and five passengers were injured. They are receiving appropriate treatment at nearby hospitals,” stated the South East Central Railway through a bulletin issued at 7.35 p.m.

The Railways said that as per the preliminary assessment, the DEMU train crossing the signal at danger seemed to be the cause of the crash.

Speaking to The Hindu over the phone, Bilaspur District Collector Sanjay Agrawal confirmed that four deaths had been reported and several others were injured. He said the total number of injured passengers was still being compiled as some were trapped under a coach. “At least one person is critically injured,” he added.

The incident occurred around 4 p.m., when the MEMU passenger train was heading to Bilaspur from Gevra in neighbouring Korba district, Railway officials said. A police officer added that the passenger train rammed into a goods train from behind between Gatora and Bilaspur railway stations.

DMK moves Supreme Court against SIR, says it is de facto NRC

Tamil Nadu ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) organising secretary R.S. Bharathi moved the Supreme Court on Monday against the second phase of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise announced by the Election Commission of India in 12 States and Union Territories, saying the process amounts to “constitutional overreach” and is a thinly-disguised, de facto National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“By imposing citizenship-like burdens of proof on electors, the SIR appears to be acting beyond its statutory purpose, effectively functioning as a de facto National Register of Citizens (NRC). If the SIR order of October 27 is not set aside, the exercise can arbitrarily and without due process, disenfranchise lakhs of voters from electing their representatives, thereby disrupting free and fair elections and democracy in the country, which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” Bharathi submitted a petition on behalf of the party drawn by advocate Saushriya Havelia and settled by senior advocate N.R. Elango.

The petition, the first challenge in the apex court against the second phase of the SIR commenced from October 28, highlighted the lack of due process as well as the unreasonably short timeline for the SIR of the electoral roll in Tamil Nadu as designed to exclude voters.

“The unilateral imposition of such an unprecedented, resource‑intensive and socially disruptive process on a State, without consultation or demonstrable administrative exigency, t