Ranchi, July 15: The Jharkhand High Court has directed the Indian Railways to pay compensation to the family of a passenger who died after allegedly falling from a moving train, setting aside an earlier order of the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) that had rejected the claim.
Justice S.N. Dwivedi ruled that if it is established that the deceased was travelling with a valid railway ticket and died due to an accidental fall from a moving train, the Railways cannot deny statutory compensation.
The court directed the Railways to pay ₹8 lakh to the deceased’s legal heirs within two months, along with 7% annual interest from the date of the accident until the payment is made.
The order came while hearing an appeal filed by Rajkumari Devi, the wife of the deceased, and other family members against the Railway Claims Tribunal’s April 26, 2023, decision rejecting their compensation claim.
According to court records, Ashok Mahto, a resident of Deoghar district, was travelling from Jasidih to Madhupur on August 1, 2017, with a valid second-class ticket on the Danapur–Tatanagar Express.
He reportedly died after falling from the moving train near Nawapatri.The High Court observed that the tribunal had misinterpreted the available evidence.
It noted that the Railway Police investigation, inquest report and final investigation findings supported the conclusion that the death occurred due to an accidental fall from the train.
The court also pointed out that a valid railway ticket had been recovered from the deceased.
Rejecting the tribunal’s reasoning, the High Court held that the mere fact that the body was found some distance away from the railway tracks could not be treated as proof that the death was unrelated to the train accident.
It observed that there could be several reasons why a body is found away from the tracks and that such a circumstance alone cannot defeat a genuine compensation claim.
The court further clarified that the absence of an eyewitness to the purchase of the railway ticket is not sufficient to deny compensation when other reliable evidence establishes that the passenger was travelling with a valid ticket.
The judgment is expected to serve as an important precedent in railway accident compensation cases, reaffirming that claims should be decided on the basis of credible evidence rather than assumptions or technical grounds.
