Victim's Negligence No Ground To Deny Compensation In Railway Accident: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has made it clear that negligence on the part of a victim is not a ground to deny compensation in cases of railway accidents, holding that once an “untoward incident” is established, the liability of the Railways is strict under the Railways Act, 1989.Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri made the observation while allowing an appeal filed by a woman whose claim for compensation had been rejected by the Railway Claims Tribunal. The Tribunal had held that the deceased was neither a bona fide passenger nor a victim of an “untoward incident”.The case pertained to the death of the appellant's son, who allegedly fell from a running train while travelling from Tughlakabad to Palwal in 2018 and succumbed to his injuries.Setting aside the Tribunal's order, the High Court noted that even as per the Railways' own case, the deceased had fallen from a running train, though the incident was attributed to his negligence. It observed,“Once the factum of fall from a running train is accepted and the nature of the incident stands established, the same would squarely fall within the ambit of an “untoward incident” as defined under Section 123(c) of the Act. The attribution of negligence to the deceased does not alter this position, as, it is well settled that negligence of the victim is not a relevant consideration for denying compensation under Section 124-A of the Act. The liability of the Railways in such cases is strict, subject only to the statutory exceptions, none of which are attracted in the present case.”The Court also rejected the Tribunal's finding that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger merely because no journey ticket was recovered from his body. It held that non-recovery of a ticket is not conclusive and that the claimant had sufficiently established that the deceased was travelling with a valid ticket.As such, the Court set aside the impugned order and remanded the matter for determination of compensation.Appearance: Mr. Rajan Sood, Advocate for Appellant; Mr. Harsh Kumar, SPC (UOI), Ms. Sikha Gogoi, Mr. Himanshu Bidhuri and Mr. Neel Kr. Sharma, Advocates for RespondentCase title: Dharamawati v. Union of IndiaCase no.: FAO 31/2022Click here to read order

Victim's Negligence No Ground To Deny Compensation In Railway Accident: Delhi High Court

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