IMPORTANT POINT
The absence of a ticket does not disqualify a deceased from being considered a bona fide passenger under the Railways Act, and the Railways are strictly liable for compensation in cases of untoward incidents.

ORDER :

1. This appeal under section 23 of Railways Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short “the Act of 1987”) has been preferred by the appellant represented by General Manager, Western Central Railways Jabalpur challenging the award dated 23-8-2016 delivered by Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhopal (for short “the Tribunal”) in case No. O.A. No. IIu/BPL/2012/0415 granting compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- along with interest 8% per annum from the date of claim application i.e. 18-9-2012 till the date of passing the aforesaid order against the respondent/railways on account of the death of deceased-Ashish Patel who died while travelling in a train on 8-6-2012.

2. For the sake of convenience, the parties hereinafter referred to they are arrayed before the RCT in the claim petition.

3. The concise facts in the claim petition, relevant for determination of the appeal, are as under.

4. Twenty two years old Ashish Patel was a Medical Representatives at the time of his death on 8-6-2012 and while the deceased travelling from Nagpur to Bhopal for his work with a second class journey ticket, further stated that when the train reached Habibganj railway station due to heavy crowd in the compartment and jolting of the train suddenly the deceased unexpectedly lost his balance and fell from the moving train due to which he died on the spot and lost his ticket.

5. On the same day, the matter was reported to the Government Railway Police by Loko-pilot of Panchweli train alleging that dead body was lying in the Habibgaj Down Line Platform No. 3. Basing on the said intimation, the GRP, Habibganj registered a merg No. 28/12 and body was sent to the Government Hospital Bhopal for Postmortem and after completion of autopsy, handed over the dead body of the deceased to his parents.

6. On account of death of the deceased-Ashish Patel, the appellant-Devkaran Patel who is the father of the deceased filed a claim petition before the Railway Claims Tribunal, claiming compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- with interest.

7. The respondent-Railway filed a written statement/reply through the Presiding Officer of RCT, Bhopal, wherein they have denied that it was an untoward incident as defined under section 123(c)(2) r/w section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989 and further averred that as per DRM’s report the alleged incident was occurred while the deceased was trying to detrain from the moving train and resultant run over. The alleged incident pertaining to “self inflicted injury” and “his own criminal act” as defined exceptions (b) and (c) under section 124-A of Railway Act, 1989, further denied that the appellant is required to prove that the deceased was travelling with a valid ticket defined under section 2(29) of the Railway Act, 1989 and further contended that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger because his journey ticket was not found or produced before the RCT as per the DRM’s report and further averred that the allegation of death of deceased due to untoward incident was denied and the claim application filed by the claimant is not maintainable, therefore, the Western Central Railway is not liable to pay any compensation.

8. In view of pleadings of the parties, the Tribunal framed the following issues:

1. Whether the deceased was a bona fide passenger of the train in question at the time of occurrence of the alleged untoward incident?

2. Whether the death of the deceased caused due to the said alleged untoward incident as defined under section 123(c)(2) read with section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989?

3. Whether the respondent Railway Administration is protected under section 124-A of Railways Act, 1989 and is not liable to pay compensation to the applicant?

4. Whether the applicant is the sole dependent of the deceased Ashish Patel S/o Devkaran Patel and no other dependents?

5. Relief?

9. In order to establish the claim of the applicant at the time of inquiry, the claimant who is the father of the deceased filed an affidavit and exhibits A-1 to A-9 marked on behalf of t