MAMTA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal has been filed by the appellant who claims to be the dependents of the deceased assailing the impugned judgment dated 12.09.2008 whereby the Railway Claims Tribunal has dismissed the claim petition filed by the appellants under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunals Act. By filing the claim petition the appellants have claimed that on 26.05.2006 the deceased late Bharat Singh the husband of the first appellant was going to his cousins house at Meerut by Dehradun Express. The deceased was travelling on a valid purchased ticket from Delhi junction to Meerut City by Dehradun Express Train. He has boarded the train from Delhi Junction but as the train was over-crowded, the deceased could not pass the gallery of the train to get a seat/berth, and when the train reached near Bihari Colony, Shadara the crowd pushed the deceased and the deceased could not control himself, and as a result thereof he fell down from the moving train and sustained fatal injuries. The post-mortem was conducted on the dead body of the deceased at GTB Hospital. Thereafter on 06.12.2006 the appellants filed the claim petition claiming compensation of ` 5 lakhs from the respondents.

(2.) THE respondents contested the proceedings by filing a written statement wherein apart from denying the allegations made in the claim petition they have contended, inter alia, that the alleged incident as narrated in the claim petition is not covered under the definition of untoward incident as defined under Section 123(c) of the Railways Act. THEy also pleaded that the deceased was not a bona-fide passenger.

(3.) HAVING taken note of the aforesaid statement made by AW2 the Tribunal has observed that: