BEFORE THE RAILWAY CLAIMS TRIBUNAL, RANCHI BENCH, Ranchi Mr. Deepak Nath Tiwari, MJ, RCT Ranchi bench Ranchi Mr. Dhruv Singh, MT, RCT Ranchi bench Ranchi PARTIES (1) Manko Hansda (40 Yrs.) w/o Deceased Late Barka Tudu, (2)

Sona Hurmu (63 Yrs.) w/o Late Choto Tudu (mother of the deceased) (3) Silwanti Tudu (17 Yrs.) (4) Stela Tudu (9 yr.), (5) Charlesh Tudu (8 Yrs.) Applicant No.3 and 4 (the minor daughters of deceased) and Applicant No.5 (minor son of deceased) have been represented through Applicant.No.1 the mother of Applicant No.3 to 5. All R/o Village-Sanmani, P.O. Rohra, P.S. Barhat, Dist.

Sahebganj, Jharkhand-816102.

Applicants Versus Union of India through General Manager, South Central Railway,Secunderabad …… Respondent.

Date of Incident : 14.07.2018. Date of Filing : 14.06.2019 Date of argument : 08.06.2023 Date of decision : 09: 06.2023 Learned Counsel for the Applicant. Sri Vijay Shankar Jha Learned Counsel for Respondent. Sri S. K. Srivastav

JUDGMENT

Deepak Nath Tiwari Member Judicial -This is an application filed by the Applicants (dependents of deceased)

1 under section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 of the Railways Act, e g

1989 against the Respondent Railway administration for payment of compensation for the death of Barka Tuddu. (hereinafter referred to as “the deceased”), who allegedly died in an untoward incident. The applicants, who have filed this OA, are the wife, mother and minor daughters and minor son of the deceased.

CASE OF APPLICANTs

2. The applicants have filed the instant claim petition for compensation after the the death of deceased, who, worked as a Security Guard in Goa, fell from a running train while traveling from Howrah to Vasco-da-Gama (Goa) on July 14, 2018. The incident occurred between Phigangipur and Perechorla railway stations due to the rush of passengers and the train’s jerking movement.

2.1 The applicants are seeking a compensation amount of Rs 8,00000/- along with interest at a rate of 12% from the date of the accident.

CASE OF RESPONDENT

3 Notice regarding the claim application was issued against the respondent, and learned counsel for respondent responded by submitting a written statement along with the statutory report of the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM). According to the respondent, an inquiry was conducted by the Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (Sr.DSC/GNT) regarding the alleged incident. 3.1 The inquiry report indicated that a Key-man had discovered a dead body

2 beside the track. The respondent contends that there were no eyewitnesses to e g confirm that the deceased was traveling by train or that he fell from the train. He further contends that the mere presence of a dead body near the track does not necessarily prove that the deceased died in an untoward incident.

3.2 Additionally, the respondent submitted the DRM report, along with the post-mortem report, inquest report, First Information Report (FIR), report from the Railway Protection Force (RPF), and details of items recovered during a personal search, as part of the written statement.

4. Upon careful examination of the documents submitted by the respondent, the following facts were discovered:

According to the DRM report dated 19.12.2019, the following details were revealed:

 The incident was first noticed by Key-man t of Gang No.5/GNT at 08.30 hrs on 14.07.18. They discovered the dead body of an unknown male, approximately 50 years old, lying on the right side of the track at KM No.

16/7-6, between Phirangipuram and Perecherla Railway stations.

 The hospital details mentioned in serial no. 23 indicate that the deceased was pronounced dead at the scene.

 Serial no. 25 of the DRM report lists the following items found during a personal search conducted near the body: (1) a broken JIVI company black-colored mobile, (2) an Aadhar card, (3) railway ticket No.12524280 for Rs.445/- from Ex/HWH-VSG dated 12.07.18 at 18.24 hrs, and (4) EFT

3 e g no. 941027 dated 14.07.2018 (Extra Fine Ticket) issued by the Ticket Coll