Observing that there was no negligence on part of the accident victim, who got out of his bogie due to fire and was run over by another train on the adjacent track, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has directed the Railways to pay compensation to his parents.
Justice MS Jawalkar observed that the victim and other passengers would not have gotten down from the train if there had not been fire and smoke in the bogie.
Passengers forced to alight from bogie on fire
“It cannot be said that there is any negligence on the part of deceased. If there would not have been any incident of hot axle and smoke in the bogie, the passengers would not have required to board down from the train in the middle of journey, where there was not any platform,” the court said.
(Hot axle box in a railway vehicle occurs when inadequate wheel-bearing lubrication or mechanical flaws (bearing failure) cause an increase in temperature. If undetected, the bearing temperature can continue to rise until there is a bearing “burn-off” which may cause a derailment.)
The HC was hearing an appeal filed by Dhaneshwar Rajak, whose son died in the accident, challenging the order of the Railway Claims Tribunal. In 2019 the tribunal had rejected Rajak’s claim saying that the victim was not a bonafide passenger and the incident was not an untoward incident as per the Railways Act, 1989. According to section 124A of the Act, which deals with compensation on account of untoward incident, states that compensation can be given to kin of victims who fell from the train and not to kin of victim who was standing on the track.
The fire incident
Dilip Rajak was travelling from Bokaro to Secunderabad with a friend in Darbhanga-Secunderabad Express on July 21, 2018. When the train was passing Makodi railway station, suddenly there was a fire and smoke in the bogie. The passengers pulled the alarm chain for getting down from the bogie and stood on the adjacent track.
Suddenly, another train, Himsagar Express, came on the track and hit Dilip, who died on the spot. The loco pilot of Himsagar Express testified that he continuously blew the horn, and all the passengers except the victim moved from the track.
Dilip’s friend and co-passenger, Jaikishan Singh, testified that Dilip had purchased two valid tickets for them. However, the tribunal rejected Rajak’s claim against which he approached the HC.
Death was accidental
The high court telemarked that Dilip was dashed by a running train and it is possible that the ticket got lost in the incident. It further observed that it is not the case of suicide, self-inflicted injury, criminal act by the deceased, or a claim that the deceased was under intoxication.
The court has directed the railways to pay ₹8 lakhs to the claimants within three months along with 6% interest since the date of filing of the claim application till the final payment.
