Ticket purchase enough for relief claim: Bombay high court

Taking ‘judicial notice’ of the fact that that victims of train accidents in Mumbai do not get immediate attention, the Bombay high court has held that once  purchase of a ticket is established, the case of its loss in an accident will have to be accepted.

Justice Abhay Oka on April 19, 2011, ruled on an appeal filed by the parents of fish vendor Samahul Haque who died after falling from a moving train between Dadar and Matunga railway stations around 7.36am on March 1, 1998. They challenged the dismissal of the claim for compensation by the railway claims tribunal.

The railways contended that Samahul was not holding a valid ticket and died while attempting to cross the railway tracks. “Notwithstanding the discrepancy in the evidence of the claimants, what has been established is that the deceased travelled from Ulhasnagar to Dadar and came to Dadar railway station for the purpose of boarding the train towards  Ulhasnagar station,” noted justice Oka.

Oka admitted that there may not be any direct evidence that Samahul boarded the train at Dadar.  “At the same time, the case of the knock-down while crossing the railway line has not been established by the respondent (railways),” he said.

Stating that the tribunal ought to have allowed the claim, justice Oka quashed and set aside tribunal’s order and directed the railways to pay Rs4 lakh compensation to the Haque family within ten weeks.