The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement to prove the status of a bonafide passenger and the applicability of the incident within the scope of the Railways Act in a compensation claim.

SNEH PRASHAR, J.

1. Assailing the judgment dated 25.02.2011 passed by Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, (for short, "the Tribunal") by virtue of which an application filed by the appellants claiming a sum of Rs. 20,00,000/- as compensation was dismissed, the appellants filed the instant appeal.

2. Precisely, the averments of the appellants in the application for compensation filed by them before learned Tribunal were that Dara Singh was travelling in train no.5RD from Delhi to Rewari and when the train reached in the area of Jakholi railway station, suddenly Dara Singh fell down from the train due to negligence of the railway department/driver of the train. The deceased was said to be a bonafide passenger as he was having a railway ticket purchased for him by Krishan son of Devi Sahai, resident of village Kerli, District Mahindergarh.

3. The application for compensation of the appellants was contested by the respondent-railways. The preliminary objection raised by them was that the application was not maintainable under Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989 (for short, "the Act") and that the statement of the witnesses recorded by the G.R.P. reveal that the deceased fell down from some unknown train and with a malafide intention to claim compensation, the train number was lateron mentioned. It was also pleaded that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger as no ticket was found in his possession.

4. On the pleadings of the parties, issues were framed. Both the parties led ocular and documentary evidence to discharge the onus of issues on them. Considering the submissions made on behalf of the appellants and that of the respondent, learned Tribunal finding that the appellants are not entitled to any compensation, dismissed the application vide judgment dated 25.02.2011.

5. Feeling aggrieved, the appellants-claimants preferred the instant appeal.

6. The submissions made by Mr. Mukesh Yadav, learned counsel for appellants and Mr. Nitin Kumar, learned counsel for respondent No.1- railways have been heard and record perused.

7. Learned counsel for the appellants argued that learned Tribunal erred in holding that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger as he was found to be having no passenger ticket. Relative of the deceased, Krishan, who had come to see him of at Railway Station Delhi had purchased a railway ticket and given the same to him. To substantiate his plea, Krishan tendered his affidavit before learned Tribunal. The deceased was travelling alone and during fall from the train it is possible that the railway ticket which was in possession of the deceased got misplaced. When it was mentioned in the postmortem report Ex.A1 that the deceased had sustained injuries which caused his death in a railway accident, no further evidence was required to prove that Dara Singh lost his life in an untoward incident when he was travelling in the train and, therefore, the appellants, being parents of the deceased, are entitled to compensation.

8. Admittedly, no journey ticket was recovered during personal search of the dead body by the G.R.P. It is not the case that nothing was recovered from the dead body, rather as mentioned in the 'Fard Peshkardagi' Ex.A4, one purse, one telephone diary, cash of Rs. 96/-, three identity cards, one recruitment slip of Delhi Police and a challan form of State Bank of Patiala, all in the name of Dara Singh, were recovered. If all those articles were retrieved from the person of the deceased, it does not appeal to a prudent mind that only a passenger ticket of the deceased got misplaced. Had the ticket been in his possession, it would have also been recovered alongwith other articles.

9. Moreso, it is the specific case of the appellants that the railway ticket for Dara Singh (since deceased) was purchased by one Krishan son of Devi Sahai, resident of village Kerli, District Mahindergarh, who had come to see him of at Railway Station Delhi and Krishan had handed over the ticket to