Ratios:
a. A person purchasing general ticket from railway can travel by any train which goes via the intended destination station and he would be a bonafide passenger.
b. Bonafide passenger suffering accidental fall while detraining at non-stopping stations can also claim compensation for his injuries from the railways.

Aggrieved by award made in O.A. No. 107 of 2002, dated 7. 2008, the South-Central Railways, by its General Manager, Secundrabad, has preferred this appeal.

2. Facts leading to the appeal are as follows: On 16. 2000, Smt. V. Kasturi Bai, with a view to go to Gudur by Krishna Express, purchased a General II class ticket from Vijayawada to Gudur, bearing train No. 33908682 and boarded train No. 6803 Howrah-Tiruchirappalli Express in general coach, either presuming it to be Krishna Express or due to wrong guidance of some passengers on Vijayawada platform, as she being an illiterate person and as both the trains start from Vijayawada at the same time towards Gudur. It is the further contention of the claimants that when the train was entering Gudur Railway station, the deceased V. Kasturi Bai accidentally slipped and fell down from the running train between the platform and the train and she was cut into two pieces and killed instantaneously. Husband of the deceased initially made a claim for Rs.4,00,000/-. After his examination as A.W. 1, daughter and son of the deceased got themselves impleaded in the Original Application, as per the order of the Tribunal in M.A. no. 4 of 2008, dated 3. 2008 as applicants 2 and 3 respectively.

3. The appellant-Railways in their reply statement, dated 30.8.2001, denied that the deceased was a bona fide passenger of train No. 6803, traveling from Vijayawada to Gudur on ticket bearing No. 33908682, purchased for travel by Krishna Express and further contended that it was the deceased, who attempted to alight from train No. 6803 at Gudur, for which, there was no stop. The Railways further denied that the deceased died as a result of an untoward incident of accidental fall from the train at Gudur Railway station and that the act of the deceased attracts exemptions (b) or (c) listed in Section 124-A pf the Railways Act, 1989 and for the above said reasons, prayed for dismissal of the Original Application.

4. The Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai Branch, has observed that the investigation report, along with the acceptance of the Divisional Railway Manager, required to be filed along with the written statement as per Rules framed pursuant to Section 129 of the Railways Act, 1989, does not arise in this case, as the rules were brought into force, much later in August, 2003. On the pleadings and evidence, the Tribunal has framed the following issues for consideration. 1. Where the applicant is the dependent of the deceased V. Kasturi Bai? 2. Whether deceased was a bona fide passenger of train No. 6803 Howrah – Tiruchirappalli Express traveling from Vijayawada to Gudur on ticket bearing No. 33908682 purchased for traveling by Krishna Express? 3. Whether the deceased died as a result of untoward incident of accidental fall from the train at Gudur Railway station? 4. To what relief?

5. Answering the issue in favour of the applicants, the Railway Claims Tribunal awarded a sum of R.4,00,000/- as compensation and apportioned the same as follows: Husband of the deceased: Rs.2,00,000/- Daughter of the deceased: Rs.1,00.000/-Son of the deceased: Rs.1,00,000/-

6. Referring to Section 66 and 68 of the Railways Act, 1890 and relying on a Division Bench judgment of the Patna High Court in Ramachandra Prasad Sinha v. Union of India AIR 1959 Pat. 316, Mr. T.S. Rajmohan, learned counsel for the Railways submitted that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger to travel in train bearing No.6803, Howrah-Tiruchirappalli express. She had purchased a ticket to travel from Vijayawada to Gudur by Krishna Express. When the said fact has been admitted by the claimants and when Krishna Express has no scheduled stop at Gudur, the victim, who wrongly boarded Howrah-Tiruchirappalli Express, was not a bona fide passenger and since she had no valid authority to travel in Howrah-Tiruchirappalli Express, she had voluntarily jumped out at Gudur and having regard to the fact that the deceased’s residence was at Gudur Mandal, the