SANTOSH @ SANTOAND ANOTHER Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is appeal by the parents of Sharm Singh (deceased) son of Partap Singh, whose claim application was dismissed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (in short 'the Tribunal'), vide judgment dated 22.7.2013.

(2.) The brief facts of the case are that on 7.4.2012 at about 9:30 pm, Sharm Singh son of Partap Singh, who belonged to Saharanpur, alongwith his two friends boarded HW-Barmer Link Express from Saharanpur to Ambala Cantt. for his onward journey to Amritsar. It is stated that the said train was over-crowded. When the said train reached Dukheri Railway Station at Km 257/7-9 on the bridge of Tangri river near Ambala, the train took a sudden jerk and the deceased fell down from the said train and got seriously injured. He was taken to Government Hospital, Ambala Cantt. where he was declared brought dead. The railway police reached the spot and conducted the inquest proceedings and prepared the inquest report. From the search of the body, ordinary railway ticket was also recovered.

(3.) The stand of the railway in the written statement is that deceased was not the passenger of the said train. He was not a bonafide passenger and, therefore, the applicants are not entitled to compensation. It was denied that the deceased Sharm Singh was travelling from Saharanpur to Ambala Cantt. It was further stated that as per the inquest proceedings, the head of the deceased was severed from the neck and upper portion of body was found lying in the middle of the track and lower part of body was found lying outside the railway track, which is not possible in the accident as a result of fall from a moving train.