SATYA ALIAS ATULYA TRIPATHY Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) One Srikanta Tripathy (deceased), the son of the appellants along with his father appellant No. 1 came to Berhampur Station and purchased second class tickets to undertake the journey by Visakha Express on 06.09.2004. Since the said train was running late on that date, they decided to avail Dh Tirupati Express Train, which had arrived at the station. The general compartment of the said train being over-crowded with passengers, the deceased was advised by his father, the appellant No. 1 to avail Visakha Express. As by that time, he has already entered into the general compartment of the Tirupati Express, while coming out of the compartment of the said train, he fell down on the tracks between the gap of the train and the platform. As the train had started running, the deceased sustained serious injuries under the wheels of the train and succumbed to the said injuries on the spot. Alleging the above, the appellants filed Original Application No. 133 of 2005 claiming compensation for the death of their son in the "untoward incident" before the learned Railway Claims Tribunal, Bhubaneswar.

(2.) The respondent-Union of India filed its written statement denying the averments made by the appellants and contending that there was no "untoward incident" and no accidental falling of any passenger from any train on the day in question and the deceased has neither entered the compartment nor was coming out of it as is alleged in the claim application. It was further pleaded that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger, as no ticket was found from his possession and the deceased was himself responsible for the incident. The presence of his father, the appellant No. 1 at the spot was also denied.

(3.) The learned Tribunal, basing on the aforesaid pleadings, framed five issues, which are as follows: