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Journalism of Courage
The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered compensation of Rs 8 lakh to the parents of a 17-year-old boy, who had died after falling off a crowded train while on a visit to Lalbaug during Ganesh festival in 2008, setting aside a 2016 order of the Railway Claims Tribunal, which had rejected their plea. The court held that the plea was genuine and there was no reason to suspect any foul play, directing that the compensation be given to the parent within eight weeks.
“Loss to parents on death of young son is unimaginable and cannot be arrived at in monetary terms and when such a tragic and untoward incident happens, when 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, 1989, and litigate for decades for paltry sum,” Justice Jitendra Jain said in the order.
The parents of Jaideep Tambe had approached the court after the tribunal refused their plea seeking compensation on the grounds that there was no proof that he was a bonafide passenger and there was no record of any ‘untoward incident’. This was because his friends who were accompanying him, rushed back to the spot where he fell and rushed him to the hospital, and the railway authorities were not informed then.
“The deceased and his friends were in the age group of 17-18 years and the deceased having fallen from the train, it is possible that the friends were shocked and frightened and therefore instead of informing the station officials, rushed back to the spot of the incident and took him to KEM Hospital because first priority in such cases is to save the injured person,” said the court.
Tambe was travelling from Jogeshwari to Lower Parel to visit Lalbaug during Ganesh festival on the night of September 5, 2008. His friends had told the tribunal that he fell due to the rush between Elphinstone (now Prabhadevi) and Lower Parel railway stations. His friends took him to civic body-run KEM hospital for treatment but he was declared dead on arrival. Before the tribunal, the Western Railway had opposed the plea for compensation citing that there was no record of the accident immediately as the friends failed to report it. The court said that the Railways Act is a beneficial legislation and there is no indication that the present plea is a false one. It also considered other evidence including the postmortem report at KEM Hospital which said that the deceased had suffered head injuries, likely to happen if someone falls off a moving train. It also said that the initial history of the incident given by the friends to the hospital said that it was a rail accident which should be accepted.
