Bona fide passengers holding valid tickets are entitled to compensation for accidental falls, irrespective of which train they used, under the Railways Act.

1. Aggrieved by the award made in O.A. No. 107 of 2002 dated 3.7.2008, the South - Central Railways, by its General Manager, Secunderabad, has preferred this appeal.

2. Facts leading to the appeal are as follows:

On 19.6.2000, V. Kasturi Bai, with a view to go to Gudur by Krishna Express, purchased a II Class ticket from Viyayawada to Gudur, bearing No. 33908682 and boarded Howrah - Tiruchirappalli Express (train No. 6803) in general coach, either presuming it to be Krishna Express or due to the 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. The husband of the deceased initially made a claim for Rs. 4,00,000. After his examination as AW 1, the daughter and son of the deceased got themselves impleaded in the original application, as per the order of the Railway Claims Tribunal in M.A. No. 4 of 2008, dated 10.3.2008 as applicant Nos. 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, travelling from Viyayawada 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 S.124 - A of the Railways Act, 1989 and for the above said reasons, prayed for dismissal of the original application.

4. The Railway Claims Tribunal, Chennai, has observed that 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 S.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, Railway Claims Tribunal has framed the following issues for consideration:

(1) Whether the applicant is the dependant of the deceased V. Kasturi Bai?

(2) Whether the deceased was a bona fide passenger of train No. 6803 Howrah - Tiruchirappalli Express travelling from Viyayawada to Gudur on ticket bearing No. 33908682 purchased for travelling 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 Rs. 4,00,000 as compensation and apportioned the same as follows:

6. Referring to S.66 and S.68 of the Railways Act, 1890 and relying on a Division Bench judgment of Patna High Court in Ramchandra Prasad Sinha v. Union of India , AIR 1959 Pat. 316 , the learned counsel for the Railways submitted that 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 Viyaya - wada to Gudur by Krishna Express. When the said fact has been admitted by claimants and when Krishna Express has no scheduled stop at Gudur, the victim, who wrongly boarded Howrah - Tiruchirappall