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रेल दावा अधिकरण

लखनऊ ्቗ायपीठ

RAILWAY CLAIMS TRIBUNAL

LUCKNOW BENCH

Claim Application No.: OA/II/U/88/2021

CORAM:

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bachchoo Lal, Member (Judicial)

Hon’ble Ms. Archana Srivastava, Member (Technical)

Date of Institution: 28.09.2016

Date of Decision: 08.07.2026

1. Raghunandan, aged about 56 yrs. S/O Ram Singh

2. Smt. Kanti Devi, aged about 52 yrs. W/O Raghunandan.

R/o- H. No. 46, Village- Bari Prasiddhpur

PS- Jaittepur, District- Shahjahanpur (U.P.)

…. APPLICANTs

VERSUS

Union of India through General Manager,

Northern Railway, Baroda House, New Delhi.

……. RESPONDENT

Appearance: Mr. M. K. Mishra, Ld. Counsel for the applicants.

Mr. A. K. Singh, Counsel for the respondent.

CLAIM FOR Rs. 10,00,000.00/- (with interest)

JUDGMENT

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bachchoo Lal, Member (Judicial)

1. The applicants, Raghunandan S/O Ram Singh and Another have filed this

claim application under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987

against the respondent Railway administration for payment of compensation

Case No. OA/II/U/88/2021

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for the death of Late Man Pal S/O Raghunandan (hereinafter referred to as

“the deceased”), on the ground of their dependency on the deceased, who

allegedly died as a result of an untoward incident.

2. It has been averred by the applicants in claim application that the

deceased when alive was travelling on 01/02.04.2013 from Bareilly to Bilpur

Railway station by train with a second class journey ticket. During the

course of journey, he accidentally fell down from the train at gate no. 344

near Bilpur Railway station, resulting he sustained serious injuries and died

on the spot. It has further been averred that the deceased was having

second class valid journey ticket from Bareilly to Bilpur Railway station,

which was lost in the incident. Further, the Police on receipt of the

information about this incident, completed requisite formalities including

panchanama and post-mortem on the dead body. Thereafter, the dead body

of deceased was handed over to his family members for last rites.

3. Notice was issued to the respondent Railway administration who

contested the claim of the applicants by filing written statement, wherein

apart from denying the allegations made in the claim application, it is

contended inter alia that the deceased was neither a passenger in the

alleged train nor did he fell down from the train in question on the alleged

date of the incident. Accordingly, this incident did not fall within the purview

of Section 123 (c) (2) read with Sec. 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989.

Hence, the claim application is liable to be dismissed with costs.

Case No. OA/II/U/88/2021

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ISSUES

4. On the basis of pleadings of the parties, following issues were framed on

06.07.2021 for adjudication:

i) Whether the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the train in

question?

ii) Whether incident of death of the deceased falls under the ambit of

an untoward incident as defined U/S 123 (c ) (2) read with Section

124-A of Railways Act, 1989?

iii) Whether the applicants are the only dependents of the deceased?

iv) To what relief?

5. During the course of enquiry/trial, the applicant no. 1, Raghunandan

(AW-1) has filed his affidavit as AW-1. One Shri Amar Singh S/O Late Lallu

has also filed his affidavit as AW-2, who is stated to be a witness for

purchase of journey ticket. Both the witnesses namely Raghunandan and

Amar Singh (AW-1 & AW-2) were cross-examined on 23.12.2022 by the Ld.

Counsel for the respondent. The applicants have filed and relied on the

certified/attested copies of the documents viz. copy of Police GD,

panchanama, Post Mortem report, photocopy of ration card with certain

documents in evidence.

6. Respondent filed and relied on documentary evidence i.e. statutory

investigation report of the Divisional Railway Manager (duly approved by

ADRM, Northern Railway, Moradabad), containing several documents as

evidence.

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7. Heard Ld. counsels for the parties and perused carefully the documents

on record. Our finding