SUPREME COURT HOLDS THAT ABSENCE OF A RAILWAY TICKET DOES NOT STOP A CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION IN CASE OF DEATH

A three Judge Bench of Hon’ble Supreme Court passed a judgement dated 09.08.2024 in the matter of Doli Rani Saha v. Union of India Civil Appeal No 8605 of 2024 wherein the Hon’ble Bench held that it is not necessary to produce a ticket to claim compensation when relevant facts and incidents corroborate the incident.

Facts

Appellant’s brother namely Swapan Kumar Saha was travelling in train in September 2003. Swapan Kumar suffered a fatal fall from the train and subsequently died due to serious injuries on his head. The deceased’s body was recovered after 3 days of the incident on 08.09.2003 near the railway track.

The Appellant initially filed the Claim Petition under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act 1987 (Application to Claims Tribunal) seeking compensation of Rs. 4,00,000/- (Rupees Four Lakhs only) in the Guwahati Bench of the Railway Claims Tribunal (Tribunal). The said claim was rejected by the Tribunal vide its judgement dated 17.03.2009. Later, the Appellant filed a Review Petition against the judgement, which also got dismissed vide judgement dated 29.09.2010. The decision was given on the ground that the Claimant failed to prove that the deceased was travelling in the train as there was no ticket found with the body. Moreover, neither the Appellant nor the brother of the deceased were eye-witnesses of the said incident and further there was lack of evidence which proved that the Deceased died due to falling from the train.

Subsequently, the decision of Trial Court was challenged in the Gauhati High Court by filing a Miscellaneous First Appeal in MFA No. 288 of 2010 and was later again dismissed vide judgement dated 07.01.2014. Again, the Appellant filed a Review Petition before the same Court, but Gauhati High Court Bench again dismissed the said Petition due to lack of evidence.

The Counsel for the Appellant before the Supreme Court Bench contended that the Trial Court and the High Court overlooked the findings and Report dated 06.11.2003 submitted by the Investigating Officer (IO). The Post-Mortem Report also submitted that the cause of death was head injuries due to “blunt force impact”. Moreover, as per the Section 124A of the Railways Act 1989 (Compensation on account of untoward incidents), it is not mandatory to produce a valid ticket in order to claim compensation under this Section.

The Counsel for the Respondent provided that there was no justification provided by the Appellant for delay in discovery of the body of the deceased. Moreover, absence of receipt of ticket did not make the deceased a bonafide passenger of the train.

Issues

a) Whether the deceased was a passenger of the train in question?

b) Whether the incident that took place was under the purview of Section 123(c) (untoward incident) of the Railways Act[1]?

c) Whether the Appellant was entitled to get compensation from Railways?

Decision by the Supreme Court

By relying on the judgement of Union of India v Rina Devi (2019) 3 SCC 572, the Apex Court held that the initial burden of proof is on the Claimant and once an Affidavit is produced by him/her stating relevant facts, the onus of proof shifts towards the Railways. Moreover, absence of a ticket will not diminish the fact that the deceased was a bonafide passenger.

Relevant paragraph of the judgement is as follows-

“29. We thus hold that mere presence of a body on the railway premises will not be conclusive to hold that injured or deceased was a bona fide passenger for which claim for compensation could be maintained. However, mere absence of ticket with such injured or deceased will not negative the claim that he was a bona fide passenger. Initial burden will be on the claimant which can be discharged by filing an affidavit of the relevant facts and burden will then shift on the Railways and the issue can be decided on the facts shown or the attending circumstances. This will have to be dealt with from case to case on the basis of facts found. The legal position in this regard will stand explained accordingly.”

The Apex Court also took consideration of the fact that the Post-Mortem Report stated that the death might have occurred 48-72 hours prior to the conduct of examination, which falls under the time frame of the accident. The Hon’ble Bench stated that the High Court failed to consider the half a day margin of error in calculation of time of death in the Post-Mortem Report. Further, the incident was corroborated by the Report provided by the IO.

The Apex Court relied on the judgement of Rina Devi (supra) where the Claimant will be awarded higher compensation if the amount calculated is less than the prescribed amount of compensation from the date of the incident along-with interest.

Thus, the Hon’ble Supreme Court set aside the judgement provided by the High Court and awarded the compensation to the Claimant of Rs. 8,00,000/- (Rupees Eight lakhs only). The Apex Court also ordered the Respondent to provide the said amount before 30.09.2024 to the Appellant.

Conclusion

The Hon’ble Bench found no reason to pass a varied judgement from the Rina Devi judgement. Thus, by relying on the principles of providing compensation to the Claimant in the Rina Devi judgement, the Apex Court allowed the Appeal filed by the Appellant and held that the deceased was a bonafide passenger of the train and thus his family was entitled to get compensation.

ARJAV JAIN

ASSOCIATE

THE INDIAN LAWYER & ALLIED SERVICES

[1] “untoward incident” means—

(1) (i) the commission of a terrorist act within the meaning of sub-section (1) of section (3) of

the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987 (28 of 1987); or

(ii) the making of a violent attack or the commission of robbery or dacoity; or

(iii) the indulging in rioting, shoot-out or arson,

by any person in or on any train carrying passengers, or in a waiting hall, cloak room or

reservation or booking office or on any platform or in any other place within the precincts of a

railway station; or

(2) the accidental falling of any passenger from a train carrying passengers.