JUDGMENT :

1. This appeal under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (“the Act, 1987”) is directed against the judgment and award dated 23rd December, 2016, passed by the learned Vice Chairman (Judicial) of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, Mumbai (“the Tribunal”), whereby the claim application OA (II u)/MCC/0435/2011, preferred by the appellant – applicant under Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989 (“the Railways Act”) for compensation on account of the death of her son Abdul Salam Kadir Shaikh in an untoward incident on 11th May, 2010, came to be dismissed.

2. The background facts leading to this appeal can be stated in brief as under :

(a) Abdul Salam Kadir Shaikh (“the deceased”), then 23 year old, was a bachelor. On 11th May, 2010, he was travelling from Andheri to Dadar by a local train on a valid second class ticket. The applicant asserted that after the train left Andheri station and was running, in between kilometers 21/7A and 21/8, due to push from the other passengers in the compartment, the deceased fell off the running train and sustained a fatal head injury. The deceased died on the spot. The deceased’s father had deserted his mother Raziya, th