Legal Reference Library

In an order with wide ramification, the Punjab and Haryana high court has held that getting injured while leaning out from a train door couldn't be termed as self-inflicted injury as such kind of negligence was not uncommon in the country. HC passed these orders while setting aside the decision of the Railway Claims Tribunal that had denied compensation to the kin of a passenger who died after falling from a train. Deceased Munna Kumar was travelling from Patna to Ludhiana on a valid ticket on March 27, 2011. When he was passing through Kesri railway station near Ambala, due to heavy rush in the train and a sudden jerk, he fell down and hit a pole and later succumbed to injuries. His widow Sheela Devi was denied compensation by railway authorities on the grounds that the deceased was leaning out of the door and in the process he fell down and struck a pole of an overbridge. The railway had taken the stand that it amounted to self-inflicted injury and own criminal act. Therefore...

Patna High Court has held that death of a passenger due to falling down while trying to enter into train, is compensable under Section 124A of Railways Act. Justice Aditya Kumar Trivedi in Juweda Khatoon vs Union of India, referring to an Apex Court Judgment, said that Railways Act being a beneficial piece of legislation should receive a liberal and wider interpretation and not a narrow and technical one. The Law 123 (c) (2) of Railways Act defines “untoward incident” as“the accidental falling of any passenger from a train carrying passengers.”  Section 124A. Compensation on account of untoward incident.—When in the course of working a railway an untoward incident occurs, then whether or not there has been any wrongful act, neglect or default on the part of the railway administration such as would entitle a passenger who has been injured or the dependant of a passenger who has been killed to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, the railway administration shall...