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Deep Chand vs. Union of India

First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:7895Decided 15 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
FAO 89/2018CNR: DLHC014792862017
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri

Background

In 2013, the appellant, traveling in an overcrowded general-class train compartment, fell from the moving train after a sudden jerk and jostling among passengers, landing on the tracks and losing both legs below the knee. The Railway Claims Tribunal rejected his compensation claim because no ticket was found on him at the scene, and because he mistakenly told the court he bought his ticket at 2:30 p.m., while the railway's own computer (CRIS) records showed the same ticket had actually been issued that morning at 7:42 a.m.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court, first condoning a 103-day delay in filing the appeal (given the appellant's severe disability, joblessness, and financial dependence on relatives), then reversed the Tribunal's decision on the merits. It held that non-recovery of a ticket right after a traumatic double-amputation injury does not defeat a claim when the ticket is later produced and its authenticity is confirmed by the railway's own official records; a nervous, imprecise answer during cross-examination about the exact purchase time did not outweigh that documentary proof. The Court also gave weight to the contemporaneous Station Master's register, made at the time of the incident, which recorded that a person had "fallen from Train No.64151", treating this as independent, reliable evidence of an accidental fall, distinct from a later medical record's vaguer description. The case was sent back to the Tribunal to calculate and award compensation.

Lesson Learnt

A catastrophically injured train-accident victim should not be denied compensation just because a ticket wasn't recovered from him at the accident scene, so long as the ticket's issuance is later verified through the railway's own official records and the accident itself is documented in contemporaneous railway logs.

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