NEW DELHI: The Delhi high Court has held that non-recovery of the travel ticket cannot be the sole ground to deny compensation for the injuries sustained by a person in a railway accident.
A bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri made the observation while setting aside a tribunal’s order denying compensation to one Rohan Kapoor, who had sought compensation for the “grievous injuries” sustained by him in a railway accident in May 2018 when he was 13.
The judge noted that the person who had himself undertaken the journey and sustained the injuries entered the witness box and deposed on oath about the relevant facts.
“His testimony, therefore, required consideration in its entirety and in the context of the surrounding circumstances,” the judge said.
The judge added that the circumstances related to alleged contradictions in the victim's testimony were required to be examined in view of the surrounding circumstances as well as in view of the beneficial nature of the legislation.
“The appellant was about 13 years of age at the time of the incident… It is also significant that the respondent has not examined any witness to rebut his (Deepak Kumar, who claimed to have purchased tickets for both himself and victim) specific statement regarding the purchase of a ticket for the journey.
“The non-recovery of the ticket during the subsequent proceedings, in the absence of any further material disproving the appellant’s version, cannot be treated as conclusive against him,” the judge said.
The judge set aside the judgment, and remanded the matter back to the tribunal asking it to assess the amount of compensation payable to the appellant in accordance with law and further directed the authorities concerned to disburse the money within two months.
According to the complaint, Kapoor was travelling from Kanpur Central to Ghaziabad by “Haldia Express” on May 11, 2018. Owing to the heavy rush in the general compartment, he was standing near the door of the compartment, he claimed.
When the train was passing through Bhadan Railway Station, he was pushed by fellow passengers and, on account of the sudden jerk and jolt of the train, fell from the moving train and sustained grievous injuries, resulting in amputation of his right leg above the knee, he added.
The Railways had opposed the plea, disputing applicant’s status as a “bona fide passenger”, claiming that no journey ticket had been recovered from him. The Railway Claims Tribunal disbelieved the appellant’s evidence on the question of bona fide passenger status, principally on account of the discrepancies in the testimonies of the victim and his mother.
