The interpretation of the definition of 'passenger' under the Railways Act and the burden of proof for an untoward incident.

JUDGMENT :

1. Being aggrieved by the judgment dated 02.02.2017, passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal (the “Tribunal”), Nagpur, in a claim petition for compensation, which was rejected by the Tribunal, the sons of the deceased have preferred this appeal under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987.

2. Brief facts are that the deceased Dhondabai, mother of the Appellants, while going from Gangakhed by train to meet her daughter at Jalna, fell down and succumbed to her injuries. It emerges from the statement of the Gangman/Keyman, Shri Santu Raoji Sawant that on 04.10.2012 at about 07:00 hours on the day of the incident, he was checking the railway track from Gangakhed Railway Station to Kilometer No.301 and while coming back, at about 13:00 hours, he came to know from some person that one lady was lying in a dead condition between the two lines at Kilometer No.299/1-2 and that, he informed the Station Master of the same at around 15:00 hours. Thereafter the Station Master has informed the Gangakhed Police for further action, after which, the Spot Panchanama, Inquest Panchanama and Post-mortem proceedings were undertaken.

3. Thereafter, a claim petition was preferred by the Appellants on 23.11.2012 to claim compensation from the Respondent/Railway on account of the death of Dhondabai, widow of Baburao Parde, in a purported untoward incident, which occurred on 04.10.2012.

4. It is observed from the record that the deceased fell down at Kilometer No.299/1-2, Gangakhed, District Parbhani. Although, the inquest panchanama shows that in the personal search of the deceased, one Railway Ticket bearing No.63249273 Gangakhed to Jalna dated 04.10.2012, was recovered and the Tribunal has also observed that the journey ticket at A-1 of the Record and Proceedings had been purchased at 05:03 hours on 04.10.2012, but it has gone ahead and concluded that the mere recovery of a journey ticket, by itself, was not sufficient to show that the deceased was traveling from Gangakhed to Jalna by Passenger train. Further on the basis of the statement of RW-2 viz. Amareshkumar Shrivastava, Station master, Selu that no untoward incident of accidental fall down from the said train of any passenger was noticed or occurred or reported, the Tribunal has observed that the facts stated in the claim application are in contradiction to the journey ticket. On the basis of the documents placed before the Tribunal viz., the examination of Shri. Sudam, son of the deceased as AW-1 and documents at A-1 to A-11 as well as the examination of the Keyman/Gangman as well as the Station Master of Selu, Nanded division and the DRM’s Inquiry report, the Tribunal concluded that the story put forth by the Appellants was a mere concoction only to get false compensation. According to the Tribunal, the Claimants or the Appellants have on the strength of a valid railway journey ticket placed on record, which is a procured one, made the claim.

5. On the issue, whether the incident was an untoward incident, the Tribunal has observed that the onus to prove the same is upon the Appellants. The Tribunal has observed that AW-1 Sudam, who is the younger son of the deceased, is not an eyewitness to the incident and he has no personal knowledge about the incident. That, the Appellants have neither examined any eyewitness, which could establish the circumstances under which the death of Dhondabai had occurred nor have they stated that there was any eyewitness to the incident. The fact that Dhondabai died on account of an untoward incident, the Tribunal observed, must be proved by the Appellants in order to claim compensation under Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989 (the “Railways Act”), and there is no such presumption that the death had occurred on account of an untoward incident, merely because the deceased has died in a train or due to sudden illness while traveling in the train. The Tribunal, further observed that, in every case of death of a passenger, which occurs during th