J U D G M E N T

1) This claim application is filed by Anamala Prabhakar Reddy and his wife for the death of their unmarried son Kedarnath Reddy (hereinafter referred as deceased) under Sec.16 of Railway Claims Tribunal Act 1987, Sec.123(2), 124A and 125 of the Railway Act 1989, claiming compensation of Rs.8,00,000/- with interest @ 9% per annum from the date of untoward incident and till the date of realization for the death of the deceased in an alleged untoward incident that occurred on 02.07.2022.

2) The case of the applicants is that the deceased was coming to their village by train on 01.07.2022. He got reservation in S-8 coach, seat No.43 in Simhapuri express with PNR No.4332106313 for the journey from Secunderabad to Gudur. It is submitted that the police informed that Kedarnath Reddy while travelling by train No.12710 met with an accident of fall from the train between Eluguru-Nekkonda railway stations and died of injuries on 02.07.2022.

3) The Respondent Railway filed Written Statement denying various averments made in the application and has put the applicant to strict proof of the same. Respondent denied that the deceased suffered an untoward incident of accidental fall from train when the train was in motion. Respondent denied that the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the train in question. Respondent disputes the veracity of all the documents filed by applicants. Respondent further denied that the applicants are entitled to claim compensation from the Railway and prayed that the said application is liable to be dismissed.

4) On the strength of the above pleadings, the following issues were framed

1) Whether the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the Train in Question and died as a result of an untoward incident?

2) Whether the incident falls under any exception of Rule-124A or not ?

3) Whether the Applicant(s) is/are dependent(s) of the deceased?

4) Whether the applicant(s) are entitled to compensation as claimed and to what relief ?

5) Applicant No.1 father of the deceased filed affidavit before the Tribunal. He was examined and cross examined before the Tribunal as AW1. The documents filed by him are marked as Ext.A1 to Ext.A8 viz., (a) Ext.A1 is the attested copy of FIR. (2) Ext.A2 is the attested copy of Inquest Report. (3) Ext.A3 is the attested copy of PME report. (4) Ext.A4 is the Final Report. (5) Ext.A5 is the copy of Aadhar card of Late Kedarnath (deceased) (6) Ext.A6(a) & (b) are Aadhar card of applicants No.1 and 2 (7) Ext.A7 is the Rice Card (8) Ext.A8 is the Death Certificate of the deceased.None was examined on behalf of the respondent railway and the DRM report is filed and marked as Ext.R1.

6) Heard the arguments of learned Counsel’s for the Applicants and Respondent. On considering the material documents available on record and the contentions of the learned counsel for both the parties the findings on the issues are recorded as follows: -

F I N D I N G S ISSUE NO.1 & 2:

7) The case of the applicants is that the deceased was coming to their village by train on 01.07.2022. He got reservation in S-8 coach, seat No.43 in Simhapuri express with PNR No.4332106313 for the journey from Secunderabad to Gudur. It is submitted that the police informed that Kedarnath Reddy while travelling by train No.12710 met with an accident of fall from the train between Eluguru-Nekkonda railway stations and died of injuries on 02.07.2022.

8) As per the claim application the deceased was in possession of PNR train journey ticket bearing No.4332106313, dt.01.07.2022. Ext.A2 inquest report mentions about the train journey ticket mentioned above. PNR Enquiry Report Annexed at Page R-10 of the DRM Report confirms the reservation in the name of the deceased.

9) In support of their case applicants have filed Ext.A1which is the FIR bearing No.89 of 2022 dated 02.07.2022 under Cr.PC 174 lodged on the basis of complaint given by P.Sudharshan Rao, Dy.SS/WL, which was based on the information given by Sri P.SudhakarS/o. Buchaiah, Keyman,