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Smt. Risal Kaur vs. Union of India

First Appeal from Order · CNR No. DLHC010123952023Decided 23 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
FAO 82/2023CNR: DLHC010123952023
Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri

Background

The appellant's son died after apparently falling from a train travelling from Rohtak to Jhajjar on 04.08.2019; his body was found on the tracks the following night, with his ticket and belongings still on his person. The Railway Claims Tribunal had dismissed the mother's compensation claim, holding that he was not proven to be a genuine ("bona fide") ticketed passenger and that the death did not qualify as an "untoward incident" under the Railways Act.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court found that four railway tickets recovered from the deceased, including one verified as genuine and issued from Rohtak on the day of the incident, sufficiently established he was a bona fide passenger. On whether the death was an "untoward incident," the Court held that the Railway's own inquiry never positively established that he was run over by a train: it simply left the manner of death undetermined for lack of eyewitnesses, which is a different thing from the Tribunal's inference of self-inflicted or accidental circumstances outside the Act's protection. Since compensation under the Railways Act operates as strict/no-fault liability and nothing on record showed suicide, intoxication, or deliberate trespass on the tracks, the Tribunal's dismissal was set aside and the matter remanded for assessment of the compensation amount.

Lesson Learnt

Under the Railways Act's compensation scheme, families of accident victims are not required to produce an eyewitness to the exact moment of a fall from a train: the burden instead shifts to the Railways to affirmatively show a specific disqualifying circumstance (like suicide or trespass), and mere uncertainty about how death occurred should favour the claimant, not defeat the claim.

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