Ranchi, Oct 28 The Jharkhand High Court has directed the Indian Railways to pay compensation of Rs 8 lakh to the family of a man who died after falling from an overcrowded train, holding that the absence of a railway ticket on the deceased's body cannot be a ground for denying compensation.
Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi passed the order on October 27, which was released on Wednesday.
The court, while allowing an appeal filed by Baijanti Gope against the Railway Claims Tribunal's order dated September 12, 2023, noted that the tribunal had rejected her compensation claim on the ground that no railway ticket was recovered from the body of the deceased, Banmali Gope.
Setting aside the tribunal's order, the High Court observed that the Railways should not adopt an overly technical approach while deciding compensation claims arising from train accidents.
"In a country where crores of people travel by train because not everyone can afford to travel by air or in a private car, giving a restrictive and narrow meaning to the interpretation of the Railways Act for providing compensation to victims of rail accidents will amount to depriving a large number of train accident victims, particularly poor and less privileged people, of compensation under the Railways Act," the court observed.
The court noted that the deceased had died after falling from the train and that his body had been mutilated in the accident.
In such circumstances, the non-recovery of a railway ticket from his body could not be treated as sufficient grounds to reject the compensation claim, the court said.
It further observed that the witnesses had been examined and there was no basis to conclude that the death resulted from suicide, the commission of a criminal act or natural causes.
The court held that Banmali Gope was a bona fide passenger who died due to an accidental fall from an overcrowded train.
According to the case, Banmali Gope was travelling on the Tata-Barbil Passenger train from Jhinkpani railway station to Kendposi station in West Singhbhum district on September 1, 2017.
The train was overcrowded, and Banmali, who was standing near the door, was reportedly pushed out of the train amid jostling by fellow passengers, resulting in his death.
The High Court, while allowing the appeal, set aside the Railway Claims Tribunal's order rejecting the claim and directed the Railways to pay Rs 8 lakh in compensation to the deceased's family.
