Railway Not Liable To Compensate If Passenger Dies Due To Own Negligence In Crossing Railway Tracks: Telangana High Court

The Telangana High Court has held that Railway is not liable to compensate under Section 124A of the Railways Act if the passenger died due to own negligence in crossing the railway tracks.Justice G. Anupama Chakravarthy held that compensation will be granted only when a case of an "untoward incident" is made out."Oral evidence of the son of the deceased show that the accident was the result of the negligent act of crossing the tracks by the deceased. Therefore, the appellants are not entitled for any compensation from the Railways," the Bench said.Brief Facts of the case The facts of the case are that on 06.05.2008, the deceased along with her relatives boarded the train Howrah-Tirupati Express. In order to go to Kandukuru, she climbed down the platform, and when the deceased attempted to climb the platform, Train Navajeen Express suddenly came from Kavali side without blowing whistle and when the deceased moved backward, her sari obstructed her movement as it stuck to the tracks, due to which, she fell down and train hit her and she died on spot. Therefore, the applicants claimed compensation of Rs. 8,00,000/- from Railways. The Tribunal dismissed the application for compensation. The appeal was filed challenging the order passed by the Railway Claim Tribunal, Secunderabad. The appellants are claimants before the Tribunal. The appellant contended that the Tribunal had passed the impugned order without appreciating the evidence in proper perspective. The Standing Counsel for Railways contended that the deceased had died due to her negligent act of crossing the tracks while the train was coming, hence it could not be termed as an untoward incident. Observation of the Court The court observed that the death of the deceased was not caused due to an accidental fall from the train so as to term it as an untoward incident. The son of the deceased has even admitted in his cross-examination that the incident had occurred due to negligence of his mother. Further, the deceased did not use the foot-over bridge in the railway station and instead crossed the railway tracks which would amount to criminal trespass. Further, there was no evidence by the appellant that the sari of the deceased got stuck to the tracks due to which the accident had occurred. In Section 124A of the Railways Act, the railway administration is liable to pay compensation when an untoward incident occurs. Accordingly, the Court held that the applicants in this case failed to prove that the death of the deceased was due to an untoward incident. Therefore, the appellants were not entitled for any compensation from the Railways and the appeal was dismissed. Case Title: NOOKALA VENKATESWARLU DIED & ANR v. THE UNION OF INDIA, REP BY THE G.M., SECUNDERABADCitation: 2022 LiveLaw (Tel) 36 Click Here To Read/Download Judgment

Railway Not Liable To Compensate If Passenger Dies Due To Own Negligence In Crossing Railway Tracks: Telangana High Court

Jagriti Sanghi

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