KAVITA & ANR. vs UNION OF INDIA

Judgment text excerpt

$~1 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of decision: 19th March, 2025 + FAO 113/2023 KAVITA & ANR. .....Appellants Through: Mr. Yash Harshvardhan, Mr. Ketan Bhutani, Mr. Sumit Singh, Ms. Anukriti Tiwari, Mr. Sumit and Mr. Pradeep Singh Negi, Advs. versus UNION OF INDIA ....Respondent Through: Mr. Jivesh Kr. Tiwari, SPC with Ms. Samiksha, Adv. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DHARMESH SHARMA DHARMESH SHARMA, J. (ORAL) 1. The appellants have preferred the present appeal under Section 23 of the Railways Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 [“Act”] assailing impugned order dated 03.06.2022 passed by the learned Railway Claims Tribunal, Delhi Bench [“Tribunal”] whereby their claim application filed under Section 16 of the Act read with Section 124-A of the Railway Act, 1989 seeking compensation on account of death of their son, namely Rohit Singh, was dismissed. 2. Briefly stated, it was the case of the appellants that their son had gone to Gurugram on 14.05.2018 to search for a job and had informed his father on 16.05.2018 that he had got a job and would be returning back to their native place at Rewari on 17.05.2018. It was claimed that their son Signature Not Verified FAO 113/2023 Digitally Signed By:PRAMOD Page 1 of 8 KUMAR VATS Signing Date:21.03.2025 16:26:23 fell from a running train near Khalilpur Railway Station at KM 79/7-8 and his ticket was lost in the incident. The claim was contested by the respondent/Railways inter alia raising objections to the effect that the deceased was not a bonafide passenger and was a trespasser on railway premises. The Tribunal framed the following issues for adjudication on 28.12.2021: “1. Whether the deceased was a bona-fide passenger in the train in question at the time of incident? 2. Whether there was any untoward incident as is defin