A death caused by a person being struck by a train while trespassing on railway tracks does not constitute an 'untoward incident' under Section 123(c)(2) of the Railways Act, 1989, and the claimant must prove bonafide passenger status to be entitled to compensation.

JUDGEMENT

1. This Claim Application is filed by the applicants under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 read with Section 123 (c) (2) & Section 124 - A of the Railways Act, 1989 for compensation arising out of an alleged untoward incident occurred on 07.04.2022 involving death of Ranjit Anandkumar Gautam, (herein after referred as the deceased). The Applicants claim that, being parents and sisters of the deceased, they are the dependents of Ranjit Anandkumar Gautam.

2. It is pertinent to mention here that neither the Counsel for the Applicant nor Applicant have been present on the date of arguments. Hence this case is being decided on merit ex-parte in terms of Sec. 18(1) of Railway Claims tribunal act 1987.

The factual matrix of the matter in nut-shell is as below:

3. It is stated that, the deceased, Ranjit Anandkumar Gautam, was a resident of Kalwa. It is alleged that, on 07.04.2022, the deceased was travelling by Local train from Diva to Thane Railway Station. At about 08.27 hrs when the train was in between Diva to Thane Railway Station, the deceased was pushed from inside and he was taken to the Thane Civil Hospital wherein he was declared dead. The Applicant has averred that the deceased had purchased the ticket but the same was lost.

4. In response to notice, Respondent – Railway Authority appeared and opposed the claim application. The respondent filed written statement and also produced on record the DRM’s report accompanied with other relevant police papers marked as “R-1”. It has been contended in the DRM’s Report that on 07.04.2022, information was received from SCOR to the Dy. SS/Thane that while crossing the Railway tracks at Km No 35/9 B, 5th line between Thane to Parsik Tunnel, a person was hit by Mail Express Train No. 12171 DN and got seriously injured. The DY/SS TNA made an announcement, the GRP Thane PC 104 Pashmavad Patil and RPF Thane's SI R.K. Patel along with stretcher hamal attended the spot and found a person lying cut into pieces between the tracks. Later, DYSS Thane issued memo no. 027976 and gave it to GRP Thane to take the victim to Thane Civil Hopsital for medical treatment, wherein he was examined by on duty doctor and declared dead before admission. The statement of the on duty loco pilot was recorded regarding the incident in which he stated that when his train was passing through Km No-35/9 B near Parsik Cabin between in between Thane and Diva railway station at 08.20 hrs he saw one person crossing the Railway track and the victim was hit by the train. In the statement recorded by the on-duty train manager regarding this incident, he stated that when the train suddenly halted while passing through Km No 35/9 B, the loco pilot informed him that a person was lying injured on the track after being hit by the train while walking on the track. When the on-duty staff attended the spot of the incident, they asked the people present there and they disclosed that this person was going to work while crossing the tracks with earphones in his ears, when he was hit by the Mail Express and got hit by the train and got injured. The spot of the incident is a trespassing prone area. In a statement of the deceased's father recorded by the police regarding this incident, he stated that his son worked in Bhaskar