Bombay High Court quotes F Scott Fitzgerald in drunk man’s case

First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you,” a quote by American novelist F Scott Fitzgerald was relied upon by the Bombay High Court while refusing compensation to an intoxicated man who was injured in a railway accident. A single bench of Justice Jitendra Jain, in an order passed on Wednesday, a copy of which was made available on Thursday, said alcohol ruins everything.

The court dismissed an appeal filed by a lab assistant with Bombay Hospital, challenging a 2014 order of the Railway Claims Tribunal denying him compensation for injuries suffered at a railway platform on March 10, 2001. It said the applicant was barred relief because the injury was due to an act committed in a state of intoxication. “Alcohol ruins everything. Physical and mental health, relationships, career disruption and has severe long-term lifestyle consequences,” the HC said in its order.