KIRAN VATI & ORS. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This first appeal is filed under Section 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 impugning the judgment of the Railway Claims Tribunal dated 23.5.2017 by which the Railway Claims Tribunal has dismissed the claim petition filed by the appellants/applicants.

(2.) The facts of the case are that the father and husband of the appellants/applicants namely Sh. Bhopal Singh is said to have died in a train accident on 1.10.2015 when he was travelling back from Shahdara Delhi to Behta. Appellants/applicants pleaded that the deceased had come to Delhi to attend a retirement party of one of his friends but he did not return back to his home. Appellants/applicants then received information of an unidentified person having died near the railway track, and it was found that the body was of the deceased Sh. Bhopal Singh. The subject claim petition was therefore filed pleading that there was an untoward incident in terms of the provisions of Section 123(c) read with Section 124A of the Railways Act, 1989 and therefore, appellants/applicants were entitled to compensation.

(3.) The Railway Claims Tribunal has given a finding that the deceased died on account of a fall from the train, but the Railway Claims Tribunal dismissed the claim petition by holding that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger as it has not been proved that deceased had a valid ticket of travel.