SNEHLATA & ANR. vs UNION OF INDIA

Judgment text excerpt

$~11 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision: 24th April, 2025 + FAO 252/2021 SNEHLATA & ANR. .....Appellants Through: Mr. Anubhav Dubey, Mr. Sachidanand Chaudhary, Mr. Yash Narayan Trivedi and Mr. Sparsh Gola, Advs. versus UNION OF INDIA .....Respondent Through: None. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DHARMESH SHARMA DHARMESH SHARMA, J. (ORAL) 1. The appellants, who are the wife and the daughter of the deceased Raj Bahadur, have preferred the present appeal under Section 23 of the Railways Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 [“Act”], assailing the impugned order dated 31.03.2021 passed by the Learned Railway Claims Tribunal, Principal Branch, Delhi [“RCT”] in the claim application OA/II(u)/DL1/203/2018, whereby the claim petition filed by the appellants/claimants seeking statutory compensation of Rs. 8,00,000 for the death of Raj Bahadur was dismissed. 2. In a nutshell, it is the case of the claimants/appellants that on 24.01.2018, the deceased was travelling from Delhi Shahdara to Ghaziabad on a valid train ticket bearing No. 043355741. It is alleged that during the course of the journey, the deceased accidentally fell from the moving train in the vicinity of Jhilmil Metro Station and Signature Not Verified FAO 252/2021 Digitally Signed By:PRAMOD Page 1 of 6 KUMAR VATS Signing Date:01.05.2025 13:10:03 sustained fatal injuries. It was stated that owing to the winter season and limited visibility, the presence of the deceased's body went unnoticed. Subsequently, on 25.01.2018 at approximately 11:00 hours, the body was discovered and reported by the PCR 1, following which the GRP2 was duly informed. The body was thereafter transported to GTB Hospital, Delhi, where a post-mortem examination was conducted on 27.01.2018. 3. Suffice to state that the respondent contested