Deepak Chhabra JUDGMENT
Deepak Chhabra, Member (T)
1. The present claim application has been filed by Shri Pardeep Kumar Bose and Smt. Dipali Bose, parents of the deceased under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, seeking compensation of Rupees Eight Lakhs for the death of their son namely Soman Bose @ Sunny in the alleged railway untoward incident. Brief facts of the case as mentioned in the claim application are that on 08.09.2013, the deceased was going from New Delhi to Mathura Vrindavan and after purchasing train ticket from New Delhi railway station for going to Mathura in the afternoon, he boarded the train from New Delhi. There was heavy rush in the train and when the train was moving at Palwal railway station, it took a jerk due to which Soman @ Sunny fell down from the running train at Palwal railway station, received multiple injuries and RPF staff got him admitted to general hospital, Palwal from where he was referred to Safdarjung hospital, New Delhi but he succumbed to his injuries and died in the ambulance. GRP Palwal was informed by GH Palwal which reached the spot and conducted inquest proceedings. It has been claimed that the deceased was a bona fide passenger and the journey ticket was lost in the incident.
2. Respondent railway filed the written statement denying and disputing various averments of the claim application. It was submitted by the respondent railway that no such alleged incident causing death of the deceased Soman Bose within the meaning of Section 124-A of the Railways Act read with Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act has taken place on 08.09.2013 at Palwal railway station as such the present claim application is not maintainable. The deceased was not a bona fide passenger of any train as the deceased was not travelling in the train on the day of the incident, moreover, the applicants have not produced any train ticket and even there is no independent eye witness to the alleged incident. The applicants have misled this Court by making false and wrong statement. The whole story is concocted one just to extract money. The injuries, if any, which would have occurred resulting in death of the deceased were due to his own self negligence and criminal act. The applicants have neither annexed the certified copies of the documents relied upon nor any other relevant documents to prove the alleged incident. Rest of the paragraphs were also denied and the claim application was sought to be dismissed.
3. No replication has been filed by the applicant. On examination of the pleadings, the following issues were framed:-
1. Whether the deceased was a bona fide passenger of the train on the date of incident, as alleged?
2. Whether the alleged incident is covered within the ambit of Section 123(c)(2) read with Section 124-A of the Railways Act?
3. Whether the applicant(s) is/are the only dependant(s) of the deceased?
4. Relief.
The parties were given opportunity to prove their case inter-se.
Applicants:
4. The applicants have filed affidavit of Pardeep Kumar Bose s/o. late Shri S.N. Bose, father of the deceased and was also cross-examined before the bench where he reiterated the averments made in the claim application as well as in his affidavit. Besides this, the applicant has filed documents, A-1 to A-19, available on record.
Respondent:
5. The respondent railways have filed DRM's report, which says that after enquiry and perusal of relevant documents, it is found that the deceased died due to his own mistake. He tried to de-board the running train. He got injured and died during treatment. No railway ticket/pass was found with him. He was not a bona fide passenger. The deceased died due to his own carelessness and negligence act for which the respondent railway was not respo........