The Jharkhand High Court has directed the Indian Railways to pay Rs 8 lakh in compensation to the family of a man who died after falling from an overcrowded train, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The court held that the absence of a railway ticket on the deceased’s body could not be used to deny compensation. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi passed the order on October 27, and it was released on Wednesday.
The High Court allowed an appeal filed by Baijanti Gope against a Railway Claims Tribunal order dated September 12, 2023. The tribunal had rejected her compensation claim because no railway ticket was recovered from the body of the deceased, Banmali Gope.
Setting aside the tribunal’s order, the High Court said the Railways should not take 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 Banmali had died after falling from the train and that his body had been mutilated in the accident. In such circumstances, the failure to recover a railway ticket from his body was not sufficient grounds to reject the compensation claim.
According to PTI, the court also noted that witnesses had been examined and there was no basis to conclude that the death was caused by suicide, a criminal act or natural causes. It held that Banmali was a bona fide passenger who died after accidentally falling from an overcrowded train.
Banmali was travelling on the Tata-Barbil Passenger train from Jhinkpani railway station to Kendposi station in West Singhbhum district on September 1, 2017. He was standing near the door of the overcrowded train and was reportedly pushed out amid jostling by fellow passengers, resulting in his death.
The High Court allowed the family’s appeal, set aside the tribunal’s decision and ordered the Railways to pay Rs 8 lakh in compensation, reiterating that the claim could not be rejected merely because no ticket was found on Banmali’s body.
– Ends
Source link
[ad_3]
