Negligence in boarding a running train could amount to criminal negligence, impacting liability under the Railways Act.

KULDIP SINGH, J.

1. This is first appeal filed against the judgment dated 19.01.2012 passed by the learned Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh vide which the claim application of the claimant /appellant was dismissed.

2. The facts of the case are that Shyam Lal, now deceased, resident of Dhuri had gone to Hissar in search of some work. On 18.05.2010, he informed his elder brother that he is going to Malerkotla from Hissar in search of some work. He reached the railway station and purchased a railway ticket of a passenger train 2nd Class Ticket No. K- 61825078 ex. Hissar to Malerkotla and boarded the train. When the train reached Dhuri Railway Station, the deceased alighted from the train for taking some water and eatables. According to the claimants, it appears that when Shyam Lal tried to board a running Dadar Express train at Dhuri railway station, which was also going to Malerkotla, he slipped between platform and the train and got serious injuries. The Guard of Train No.1057, Lajpat Singh informed the Station Master, Dhuri about the incident. The injured was removed to Civil Hospital, Dhuri where he was declared dead. The General Railway Police carried out the search of the deceased from which the said railway ticket was recovered.

3. In the reply, the railway took the stand that no untoward incident took place. It was also denied that the deceased was traveling from Hissar to Malerkotla and that he again tried to board the train from Dhuri railway station, the accident was also denied.

4. From the pleadings following issues were framed:

1. Whether the deceased was a bonafide passenger at the time of incident?

2. Whether the incident is covered within ambit of section 123 (c) (2) read with Section 124-A of the Railways Act?

3. Whether the applicant(s) is/are the sole dependents of the deceased?

4. Relief.

5. The Tribunal after scanning the evidence of both the parties doubted that ticket might have been planted. It was also observed that the deceased was having a 2nd Class ordinary ticket and he tried to board the Dadar Express train and, therefore, the claim application was dismissed.

6. The extract from the relevant findings recorded by the tribunal are as under:-

“It appears entirely to be a concocted story and the ticket alleged to have been recovered also seems to be a planted one specially keeping in view of the over all circumstances of the case particularly because the deceased was a resident of Dhuri itself. The alleged ticket was also of a passenger train and under para 258 of Commercial Manual Vol.1 tickets issued for an ordinary passenger train are not made available for a mail/express train as the fare is higher than that of a mail/express train. Section 55 (s) of the Railways Act assigns “proper pass or ticket” the same meaning as the word 'a proper pass or ticket' used in Section 68 to mean as a pass or ticket by which the person would be authorized to enter the carriage for the purpose of traveling therein as a passenger. Keeping in view all facts and overall circumstances of the case, it cannot be stated that the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the train i.e. the Dadar Express at the time of incident and he was not traveling in any train at that time and instead was trying to board a moving train which is a criminal negligence and he became victim of a self-inflicted injury as was held in FAO No.72 of 2011 by Hon'ble High court of Delhi at New Delhi vide which the Hon'ble High Court observed that whether the negligence in boarding of a running train is normal negligence or criminal negligence depends on the facts of each case and in this case the very fact that 8/9 coaches had passed, that too in a local train which normally gathers great speed immediately after it starts, the negligence in trying to board such a train amounts to criminal negligence so as to hold that the railway/respondent ought not to be held liable for the incident in question and that it should be held that the de