Sikander & Anr. vs. Union of India
Background
The appellants, father and another relative of the deceased Shree Krishan, appealed against a Railway Claims Tribunal order that had rejected their compensation claim. The deceased had allegedly fallen from a moving train (Gorakhdham Express) near Gangraul Railway Station in July 2011 and died. The Tribunal had rejected the claim on the grounds that the deceased was not proven to be a bona fide ticket-holding passenger and that his death was not proven to be an accidental fall from the train.
Decision Breakdown
The High Court held that non-recovery of a journey ticket cannot, by itself, disprove that someone was a bona fide passenger, relying on Supreme Court precedent (Union of India v. Rina Devi). It found the appellants' account consistent and noted the Railways had failed to rebut it with evidence. The Court further held that an eyewitness's account of seeing the deceased fall from an express train, combined with the Station Master's memo noting the body "may be due to fall from some train," outweighed minor discrepancies over the exact time of the incident. The Tribunal's inference that the deceased might have been run over by an unrelated train (based merely on his residing nearby) was rejected as speculative. The Court concluded the death was an "untoward incident" under the Railways Act and set aside the Tribunal's judgment, remanding the matter for assessment of compensation.
Lesson Learnt
In railway accident compensation claims, the absence of a physical ticket or minor inconsistencies in witness timing do not automatically defeat a family's claim: courts must weigh the overall, consistent evidence rather than isolated gaps.