SC goes extra mile to ensure widow gets Railways’ compensation after 23 years of legal battle

Saynokta Devi’s husband Vijay Singh had a valid railway ticket from the Bakhtiyarpur station to go to Patna by Bhagalpur-Danapur Intercity Express on March 21, 2002, but he accidentally fell off the running train due to heavy rush inside the compartment and died.

SC took the help of Bihar State Legal Services Authority and the secretary of district legal service authority was asked to personally visit the place where the petitioner was last reported to be residing.

By: PTI

5 min readNew DelhiOct 22, 2025 05:17 PM IST First published on: Oct 22, 2025 at 05:17 PM IST

For a tragedy-struck widow, who lost her husband in a train accident in 2002, the Supreme Court went the extra mile to ensure that she is duly compensated by the Railways after years of struggle.

Saynokta Devi’s husband Vijay Singh had a valid railway ticket from the Bakhtiyarpur station to go to Patna by Bhagalpur-Danapur Intercity Express on March 21, 2002, but he accidentally fell off the running train at the originating station itself, due to heavy rush inside the compartment and died instantly.

What followed was a legal battle for next two decades, as Devi’s claim for compensation was turned down by the Railway Claims Tribunal and Patna High Court on the ground that the deceased was of unsound mind.

Aggrieved by the high court’s order denying her claim, she, through her lawyer Fauzia Shakil, approached the apex court.

The Supreme Court in 2023 rejected the reasoning given by the tribunal and the high court and set aside the orders terming them “completely absurd”, “imaginary” and “contrary to the undisputed facts on record”.

“What emerges is the fact that the appellant’s claim was not accepted by both the tribunal and the high court solely on the ground that the deceased was of unsound mind and he was knocked down by an unidentified train,” the top court had noted in its order of February 2, 2023.

A bench headed by Justice Surya Kant had observed that if the deceased would have been of unsound mind, it would have been nearly impossible for him to purchase a valid railway ticket for travel to Patna and could not have tried to board the train all by himself.

The top court directed the Railways to pay the widow within two months a compensation of Rs 4 lakh with six per cent interest per annum from the date of filing of the claim petition.

But to her bad luck, her local counsel could not convey her the order as he passed away.
The Railways on other hand tried to comply with the order and wrote different letters to Devi but could not get any response from her for want of correct address.

The Railways, unable to give the compensation with interest, knocked at the doors of the apex court expressing its helplessness in complying with the order of February 2, 2023 granting the woman compensation.

It said the Patna High Court was also informed on March 21 that the amount has already been sanctioned but the woman has not conveyed the bank details to receive the compensation.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Dipankar Datta and N Kotiswar Singh noted that the woman owing to her family circumstances has moved from the place where she was residing at the time when the unfortunate accident took place.

In order to trace the woman to provide her relief, the top court asked the Principal Chief Commercial Manager of Eastern Railway at Kolkata to issue a public notice in two leading newspapers (English and Hindi) having wide circulation in the region where she has been residing giving full details of acceptance of her claim by the apex court and that such compensation could be received by her by producing the requisite documents, including Aadhaar Card and details of the bank accounts, upon further verification by her counsel.

It also directed the SSP of Nalanda and the SHO, of Bakhtiyarpur, police station to physically verify the whereabouts of the woman and if they are able to trace her, inform her about the acceptance of her claim and her entitlement to receive the awarded amount.

The bench directed the SSP, Nalanda to send a compliance report in this regard within four weeks.

The top court also took the help of Bihar State Legal Services Authority and secretary of district legal service authority was asked to personally visit the place where she was last reported to be residing, make inquiry about her whereabouts and verify regarding her current status and sought a report in four weeks.

Earlier, this month Additional Solicitor General Brijender Chahar told the apex court that after great efforts made by the Railways and the local police, it was found that the name of the village of the woman was wrongly recorded due to which all the communications which were sent to her, were never received by her.

He said finally, the local police were able to find the correct village and they have also successfully located the woman along with her family members.

The bench directed the Railways’ authorities to make payment of the compensation amount to the woman with the assistance of the local police and directed the local SHO to accompany the Railway officials and ensure that the compensation amount is deposited in her bank account.

“The sarpanch and other elected members of the gram panchayat will identify the appellant (woman) and for this purpose, the Railways’ authorities may also obtain copies of some official documents that may be required to be placed on record. Thereafter, a compliance report be submitted to this court,” the bench said as it directed for hearing the matter on November 24.