UNION OF INDIA Vs. KIRAN KANOJIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The parties have challenged the order dated 25th April, 2014 passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal whereby compensation of Rs.3,00,000/- have been awarded to Kiran Kanojia.

(2.) Kiran Kanojia, hereinafter referred to as the claimant , is the daughter of a washer man named Bhikha Kanojia and resident of a jhuggi in Faridabad. She was picked up by a NGO who helped her in education whereupon she completed her BCA degree and got employment in Infosys at Hyderabad.

(3.) On 24th December, 2011, the claimant was coming back from Hyderabad to meet her parents by Andhra Pradesh Sampark Kranti Express, Train No.12707 (Coach No.S-5, Berth No.68). She was holding a valid ticket bearing PNR No.4654499444 reserved through Tatkal Scheme. The claimant was sitting on the lower berth near the gate of the coach and the train was passing slowly through Palwal station when a boy snatched her bag containing valuables and she was dragged with the bag towards the gate of the coach. In the meantime, the accomplice of the thief pushed the claimant from behind due to which the claimant fell down from the train and her left leg got entangled in the footboard of the coach. Both the thieves ran away with the bag of the claimant. The claimant cried loudly due to the pain whereupon some passenger pulled the chain and the train stopped. An elderly passenger got down from the train and tied the claimant s leg with a cloth and made her lie down in the train and later on, the claimant was taken out of the train at Old Faridabad Railway Station where the Travelling Ticket Examiner of Railways took her to Fortis Escort Hospital, Faridabad in the police jeep where her left leg was amputated below knee level on 24th December, 2011. The claimant was discharged from the hospital on 05th January, 2012. The claimant underwent another surgery on 21st January, 2012 for de-bridgement, skin grafting and plaster application. The claimant remained hospitalized from 21st January, 2012 to 27th February, 2017. The photographs of the claimant are on record.