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HC says foetus of over 5 months sufficiently developed, orders Railways to compensate for death
HC says foetus of over 5 months sufficiently developed, orders Railways to compensate for death
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Lucknow, The Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench has held that the death of a sufficiently developed foetus of more than five months' gestation in a railway accident amounts to the loss of a child and warrants separate compensation.
Justice Prashant Kumar set aside a September 26, 2023 order of the Railway Claims Tribunal, Lucknow, and directed the Railways to pay an additional ₹8 lakh for the death of a seven-month-old foetus carried by a woman who died after falling from a train.
The order came on an appeal filed by the family members of Savitri Devi, who died in the accident.
According to the case, Savitri was travelling with her two sons on the Jan Sadharan Express from Sitapur Cantt to Biswan railway station on June 13, 2017. While getting down from the train at Biswan station, she fell and sustained serious injuries, resulting in her death. She was around seven months pregnant and the foetus also died.
Her family approached the Railway Claims Tribunal seeking compensation. The tribunal, however, declined to award separate compensation for the unborn child, holding that the foetus could not be treated as a bona fide passenger under the Railways Act.
The high court disagreed with the tribunal's view, observing that the death of a sufficiently developed foetus could be treated as the death of a child for determining compensation.
The bench said the fact that the Railways Act does not specifically mention the term "foetus" could not absolve the Railways of its statutory liability under Section 124-A of the Act in cases involving death arising from a railway accident or untoward incident.
It further held that the death of the mother and that of the unborn child could not be treated as a single loss for the purpose of compensation.
"Since Savitri was carrying a seven-month-old foetus, the unborn child had to be treated separately," the court observed, directing the Railways to pay an additional ₹8 lakh to the claimants.
The court said the amount was in accordance with the compensation prescribed under the amended Schedule to the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents Rules, 1990, and allowed the appeal.
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