A passenger forced to cross railway tracks to exit the station due to the absence of a foot over bridge (FOB) gets hit by a train will be entitled to compensation under the Railways Act, said the Bombay High Court (HC) recently.
Justice Abhay Ahuja of the Nagpur bench of the HC observed that such a passenger cannot be said to be a negligent passenger and directed the Railways to pay Rs 8 lakh to accident victim’s family.
“A person, who comes from a village looking for a job, boards a passenger train holding a valid journey ticket, alights from the train and is trying to exit the railway station in the absence of an overbridge, being forced to walk along the tracks and gets hit by another train and dies, cannot be said to be intentionally careless or negligent,” said justice Ahuja.
The HC was hearing an appeal filed by wife, son and mother of Manoj Gajbhiye, 35, through advocate RG Bagul, challenging the order of the Railways Tribunal which refused to award compensation.
The tribunal February 2019, said that a passenger travelling with a valid ticket ceases to be a bonafide passenger if he uses railway tracks and acts in a “negligent manner”. Terming his act as negligent manner, the tribunal ruled that his death was not an “untoward incident” but a self-inflicted injury and hence his family was not entitled to compensation under the Railways Act.
Mr Gajbhiye was travelling from Gondia to Rewral in the general coach of a passenger train on valid journey ticket, along with his relatives. They deboarded at Rewral and as there was no foot overbridge, they started walking along the track with head loads. While crossing the track, Mr Gajbhiye got hit by a fast train which was passing by. He died on the spot and some of his relatives too were injured in the incident.
Railways’ counsel, Neerja Chaubey, argued that considering that there was no foot overbridge at the relevant time, the deceased should have been more careful while walking along the tracks. She submits that it is only because of his carelessness and negligence that he got hit by the train and died.
Noting that admittedly there was no FOB at the time of the accident which forced people to cross the tracks, justice Ahuja said rejected Railways’ arguments that a person holding a ticket during journey, after alighting ceases to be ticketless or ceases to be a passenger just because he meets with an accident.
The HC opined: “Ergo, this Court is of the view that the deceased, who was a bonafide passenger who died due to an untoward incident and the appellants being the dependents of the deceased would be entitled to compensation under Section 124-A of the Railways Act.”
Accordingly, the court directed the Railways to pay the petitioners Rs 8 lakh, in equal proportions, within six weeks.
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