Bereaved parents won't make false claim of railway accident to get compensation, says Bombay HC

MUMBAI: Parents who have lost their young son in a railway accident will not use such a tragic incident to make a false claim of compensation, the Bombay High Court said on Friday, granting relief to a bereaved couple. Justice Jitendra Jain granted compensation to the parents of 17-year-old Jaideep Tambe who died in a railway accident in the city in 2008. The HC quashed a January 2016 order of the Railways Claims Tribunal which had rejected the claim for compensation on the ground that there was no record that the victim was a bonafide passenger, and died in an accident on the tracks. As per the appeal filed by his parents, Tambe was travelling from Jogeshwari to Lower Parel with his friends on the Western Railway's suburban line when he fell down between Elphinstone and Lower Parel stations due to overcrowding. His friends got down at Lower Parel, and instead of informing station officials about the incident, rushed to the accident spot and took him to KEM Hospital at Parel for treatment. Unfortunately, he was declared dead on arrival. His friends then informed the police official present at the hospital about the accident. The railway authorities opposed the parents' claim for compensation, stating there was no official record of the accident. But the high court, in its judgment, held that there was no reason to suspect anything fishy. Loss to parents on the death of a young son is unimaginable and cannot be arrived at in monetary terms and when such a tragic and untoward incident happens when the son is on his way to take darshan of Lord Ganesha, normally parents would not take opportunity of such incident to make a claim under the Railways Act and litigate for decades for paltry sum, the HC said. Further, the Railways Act was a beneficial legislation, and hence circumstantial evidence can be considered while deciding whether an untoward incident on the tracks occurred or not, the HC said. The parents were entitled to a compensation of Rs 4 lakh with 6% interest from the date of the accident, the court ruled. However, if the aggregate amount is more than Rs 8 lakh, then the appellants/applicants would be entitled to Rs 8 lakh only, the court said.