The Railway Claims Tribunal, Ernakulam Bench, has awarded a compensation of ₹8 lakh with two-month interest at 6% cent to the mother of a youth who died after falling from a running train.
The Bench ordered that 85% of the compensation with the interest be deposited in a fixed deposit in the name of the mother for three years and remaining 15% be released immediately.
The directive came on an application filed by Ramla Abu, mother of the youth from Mattancherry. According to her, her son Shafeek fell down from the train while travelling with a friend on the Bangalore-Ernakulam Sueprfast Express on April 7, 2016. He and his friend had boarded the train from Bangalore city railway station. There was heavy rush in the compartment. He fell from the train while it was negotiating a curve at Wadakanchery, and was run over by another train on the adjacent track. According to his friend, as the compartment was crowded, they were standing near the door.
The Railways contended that as he was not a bona fide passenger, it had no liability to pay any compensation.
The tribunal said that it was quite possible that when such a tragic incident took place, personal belongings, including the journey ticket, could have been lost. Merely because no journey ticket was found or recovered , it could not be said that the victim was not a bona fide passenger, and each incident had to be evaluated on its merit, the tribunal said. It was an untoward incident within the terms of section 123(2) of the Railway Act. Therefore, the mother was entitled to statutory compensation, it said.