Strict liability applies in railway accident claims; proof of ticket not mandatory if other evidence supports passenger status.

JUDGMENT

Karamjit Singh, J.

Present appeal has been filed by the appellant against the order of Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (in short, "the Tribunal") dated 21.7.2015 whereby the claim application filed by the appellant being mother of the deceased-Ramesh Chand has been dismissed.

2. Brief facts of the case of the appellant are that the appellant was dependent on deceased-Ramesh Chand; that on 11.12.2011, the deceased bought ticket from Railway Station, Gurgaon and boarded Mandore Express train to go from Gurgaon to Bandikui junction and the journey ticket was bearing No.93728632. When the train reached at KM No.32/01-02 in between Gurgaon railway station and Basai Dhankot, due to sudden jerk given by the train, the deceased fell down and sustained multiple injuries and died at the spot. The local GRP was informed about the said untoward incident and then the police reached the spot and recovered the dead body and the same was sent for its post mortem examination and the articles recovered from the dead body were taken into possession by the police. No journey ticket was recovered from the dead body or its surroundings by the police at the time of spot inspection. As per the appellant, the journey ticket was later on found from the belongings of the deceased which were handed over by the police to the family members of the deceased, after post mortem examination of the dead body. The appellant being mother/dependent of the deceased, filed claim application before the learned Tribunal.

3. The claim application was contested by the respondent and the written statement was filed. The respondent denied any such occurrence or untoward incident as alleged by the appellant. It was also denied that the deceased was travelling in Mandore Express train on 11.12.2011 when the alleged incident took place. It was further pleaded that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger as no journey ticket was recovered on the search of the dead body or its surroundings. It was pleaded that the claim application be dismissed.

4. On the pleadings of the parties, following issues were framed by the learned Tribunal : -

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

2. Whether the death of the deceased occurred in an untoward incident within the ambit of Section 123 (C) (2) read with Section 124-A of the Railway Act?

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

4. Relief.

5. In support of her claim, the appellant herself appeared in the witness box as AW1, while Ratti Ram brother of the deceased appeared as AW2. The appellant also produced documents Ex.A1 to Ex.A26 which include inquest report Ex.A3, memo of personal search Ex.A7, post mortem report Ex.A15 and journey ticket No.93728632 Ex.A21.

6. On the other hand, the respondent examined RW1 Samarth Lal Meena, Station Master, Gurgaon and RW2-Vijay Singh, Railway Guard and tendered report of DRM.

7. After hearing counsel for the parties, the learned Tribunal decided issues No.1 and 2 against the appellant while observing that no travelling ticket was found from or near the dead body and that nature of the injuries as stated in the post mortem report go on to establish that it is a case of unauthorized crossing of railway track by the deceased. However, issue No.3 was decided in favour of the appellant. Resultantly, the claim petition was dismissed by the learned Tribunal vide order dated 21.7.2015.

8. Counsel for the appellant, while assailing the impugned order, has argued that the claim application o