Absence of ticket on deceased not reason to negate death in railway accident: Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: Not finding the journey ticket on the body is not grounds to say that the death was not because of the railway accident, the Karnataka High Court has observed in a recent judgement. 

Justice Hanchate Sanjeevkumar said this while ordering a total compensation of Rs 8 lakh, inclusive of Rs 4 lakh statutory compensation and interest, to the family members of Aminasab Mulla.

The claimants are the family members of Aminasab Mulla, who died in the accident that occurred on April 6, 2015. It is submitted that Aminasab Mulla had bought a ticket at Vijayapura Railway Station to travel to Limbala.

He accidentally fell down from the moving train and sustained fatal/grievous injuries and died on the spot. 

On April 13, 2017, the claim petition was dismissed by the Railways Claims Tribunal, Bengaluru, on the ground that no intimation was given to the Railway Police Station about the death and that no journey ticket was found to substantiate that he was a passenger.

The claimants moved an appeal challenging this order.

Justice Hanchate Sanjeevkumar noted that as per the documents the loco pilot of the train had sent a message on April 6, 2015 through Walkie Talkie, that a male body was lying/found on the track between Bijapur and Minchinahal.

An FIR was also registered in this regard. The court further cited the Post Mortem Report wherein it was stated that the cause of death was due to hemorrhagic shock as a result of multiple injuries to vital organs and auto amputation.

The Inquest Report stated the opinion of the panchas as 'Deceased fell down from a moving train, got his hands and  legs cut, suffered grievous injuries to his head and accidentally got run over and died on the spot'.

“When the death occurred and immediately the body was shifted to the hospital to conduct the post mortem, during the said time the ticket might have been lost. Therefore, the Tribunal is not correct in dismissing the claim petition  on the reason the railway ticket was not found on the dead body. Quite naturally the claimants have not accompanied the deceased. Therefore, they could not produce the journey ticket. Further it is proved that a dead body was found in the railway accident as discussed above. Therefore, the claimants are entitled to compensation,” the court said.