Railways will pay a fine of Rs 8 lakh to the parents of a person who lost his life in an accident due to crowding in a Mumbai local train. Bombay High Court has given this decision while hearing a petition. Along with this, the court has also overturned the decision of the Railway Claims Tribunal on the matter. Let us tell you that on May 8, 2010, a passenger died after falling from a Mumbai local train packed with people. In this case itself, the court has ordered a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the parents of the passenger.
According to the information, Nasir Ahmed Khan had a monthly pass from Wadala to Chinchpokli via Sandhurst Road. On this pass he used to travel between his home and his place of work. One day in 2010, he left home at 8.30 in the morning. There was a huge crowd of passengers in the Mumbai local compartment. People were getting pushed due to the crowd and during this time Nasir fell from the train. After the fall, he got seriously injured and became unconscious. The passengers admitted him to JJ Hospital (Government). Nasir died during treatment the same day.
Railways had rejected the claim
The Railway Tribunal had rejected the claim of Nasir’s parents. The tribunal questioned whether the deceased was a genuine passenger and whether the incident qualified as an ‘unpleasant incident’ under the Railways Act. The tribunal expressed suspicion over the lack of immediate reporting to the railway authorities and the absence of recovered train tickets.
Court rejected Railway’s argument
Justice Firdous Pooniwala, after examining key evidence including the injury report, inquest panchnama, cause of death certificate and post-mortem report, concluded that Nasir had indeed fallen from the train. The court said that the injuries described in these reports were consistent with a fall from a moving train and rejected the tribunal’s argument that the case was weakened by not informing the railway authorities.
Constable told the whole incident
In the injury report, a police constable on duty at Sandhurst Road railway station said that at about 9.45 a.m. a person was injured and passengers took him to hospital in a taxi. He immediately went to the hospital and found that the doctor on duty had examined the injured man and admitted him to ward number 4. The injured person was identified as Nasir Baseer Khan. The report contained detailed descriptions of the injuries suffered by Khan.
Nasir was a regular traveler
The court also considered the issue of Nasir being a genuine passenger. Accepted the affidavit submitted by Nasir’s father, which confirmed that Nasir was a regular traveler and had a valid monthly pass. Furthermore, the Court rejected the discrepancies regarding the father’s name in official records, and confirmed that both parents were indeed dependents of the deceased.
Payment with 7% interest
The High Court directed the Railways to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the parents, along with 7% additional annual interest if the payment is delayed by more than eight weeks.
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