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Manju Devi & Anr. vs. Union of India

First Appeal from Order · 2026:DHC:7712Decided 9 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
FAO 24/2025CNR: DLHC010043672025
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri

Background

A young man travelling on a train from New Delhi to Faridabad fell off after feeling nauseous and losing his balance near the door; he later died from his injuries. His mother's compensation claim was rejected by the Railway Claims Tribunal because no train journey ticket was found on his body, only a valid platform ticket recovered during the search.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court reversed the Tribunal, holding that the mere absence of a journey ticket does not automatically disqualify a victim from being treated as a genuine ("bona fide") passenger, per Supreme Court precedent. Here, the platform ticket was valid at the exact time of the incident, and the mother's sworn statement that her son had bought a journey ticket (lost in the accident) was unrebutted by the Railways. The Court also noted the law explicitly defines "passenger" to include someone with a valid platform ticket who becomes a victim of a railway accident. The case was sent back to the Tribunal to calculate the compensation amount.

Lesson Learnt

If a loved one dies in a railway accident and their train ticket cannot be found (because it was lost in the accident itself), a sworn affidavit explaining this, combined with other supporting evidence like a valid platform ticket, can still succeed in establishing entitlement to compensation.

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