CHENNAI: The Madras High Court admonished the railways for denying compensation to families of passengers who died in accidents involving Electric Multiple Units (EMUs). Hearing a compensation plea of the family of a 38-year-old woman, who died after falling from an EMU train in Chennai in 2014, the court overruled the railway tribunal’s order. It directed the railways to give Rs 8 lakh compensation along with interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from the date of the passing of the award and fixed a time of 12 weeks to deposit the amount.
The court stressed that the deceased alone cannot be charged with negligence as the railways equally contributes to it by not ensuring safety of EMU passengers, particularly working women, who are solely dependent on such trains. Justice SM Subramanian, who heard the plea, said: “It is painful to state that the higher officials of the Indian Railways are receiving very decent salary from the tax payers’ money.
Therefore, they are expected to perform their public duties with high responsibility and accountability. Public authorities are expected to consider the plight of poor citizens.” Censuring the railways for not replacing old coaches and being lax on safety measures for passengers, the court said, “Large number of women employees are travelling in Metro cities, including Chennai, in EMU trains.
After duty hours, they are forced to rush to board these trains to reach homes within a reasonable travel time. They also take care of their children and family, and a delay in reaching home would cause hardship to them as to their family. With this pressure, more women travellers are forced to stand and travel in EMU trains,” the judge added.