MEERA DEVI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this appeal, filed under Sec. 23 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 (for short, "the Act of 1987"), challenge is to the judgment and order dtd. 19/3/2020, passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Nagpur Bench, Nagpur, whereby the claim filed by the appellants/claimants came to be dismissed.

(2.) BACKGROUND FACTS : Appellant No.1 is the wife of the deceased Santosh Kumar; appellant Nos.2 to 5 are the children of the deceased; and appellant Nos.6 and 7 are the parents of the deceased. The appellants claim that on 5/2/2019, the deceased, after purchasing a journey ticket, boarded Godan Express Train No.11056 at Shahganj Railway Station for Mumbai. The appellants claim that the deceased fell from a moving train at K.M. No.416/4-6 on Up Track near Harivitthal Nagar near Jalgaon Railway Station. He sustained head injury and died on the spot. According to the appellants, the death was in an untoward incident. The journey ticket was found in the trouser pocket of the deceased at the time of the inquest panchanama. He was a bona fide passenger.

(3.) The respondent-Railway filed the written statement and opposed the claim. It was contended that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger. The ticket was planted in the pocket of the deceased. The death was not in an untoward incident.