HC awards ₹8 lakh to kin of Ambala man killed after falling from train

Victim’s two sons had moved court in 2012 seeking relief of ₹6 lakh

The Punjab and Haryana high court has awarded a compensation of ₹8 lakh to the family of an Ambala man, who died after falling out of a moving train in June 2010.

Somprakash, a resident of Mandhaur in Ambala, was travelling to Ambala when he fell out of the train in June 2010. (Shutterstock)

The deceased, Somprakash, had fallen out of the train while travelling to Ambala.

In January 2012, the Railway Claims Tribunal had denied compensation, holding that he did not have a valid ticket on him on a reserved train.

The decision was challenged by his two sons before the high court in 2012. They had demanded a compensation of ₹6 lakh.

Somprakash, a resident of Mandhaur in Ambala, had gone to meet his daughter in Jhanjhari village.

While returning, he purchased a ticket and boarded a train from Jagadhri railway station to Ambala Cantonment in Haryana. However, as the train reached near Mustafabad railway station, he accidentally fell out of the train and died on the spot.

The railways had claimed that the injuries received by the deceased were either self-inflicted or on account of his own negligence and, as such, he would not be entitled for any compensation. Also, with no railway ticket being recovered from the body, the deceased could not be held a bona fide passenger.

The tribunal had ordered in the favour of railways, holding that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger as he had boarded a train, which was fully reserved and did not have a general compartment. Thus, he was not entitled to travel on an unreserved general class ticket.

However, the high court differed with the findings and took note of the fact that the deceased was travelling on the train, as the body was recovered by the Government Railway Police (GRP) upon information that he had fallen off the train.

Assuming that the deceased was having a ticket of second class compartment (unreserved category), but he was travelling in the first class compartment (reserved category), as per rules he will be liable to pay only the difference between fare paid by him and the fare payable in respect of the journey, the court observed.

It further stated that as far as not finding ticket during search of the body was concerned, that cannot be a conclusive proof of the fact that the deceased was a ticket-less passenger because in such type of accidents there would always be a possibility of losing the ticket.