HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 509 OF 2008 . DATED 29TH November, 2011. BETWEEN Mandala Gowri and ors …Appellants And The Union of India, General Manager, South Central Railway, Secunderabad ….Respondent. HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS APPEAL No. 509 of 2008 JUDGMENT: One M.Tataji had started his journey by train No.455--passenger from Kakinada to go to Visakhapatnam on 27.8.2000. When the train reached Yelamanchili Railway Station, the said M.Tataji got down from the train to drink water and thereafter while boarding the train and going inside the compartment, he slipped and accidentally fell down from the running train at Yelamanchili Railway Station. As a result of the said incident, he suffered severe head injuries and while undergoing treatment, he succumbed to injuries on 1.9.2000. The appellants/applicants being, wife, children, father and mother of the deceased M.Tataji, filed a claim application under Section 16 of the Railway Claims Tribunal Act read with Section 124-A and 125 of the Railways Act, seeking payment of compensation. The said claim application was opposed by the respondent-railway specifically alleging that there was no information form anybody or was there any record as to the alleged untoward incident of accidentally falling in the Yelamanchili Railway Station on the relevant date and that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger. The Tribunal after considering the evidence on record, came to the conclusion that the appellants/applicants have not established that the death of the deceased was due to an untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train. Holding so, the Tribunal dismissed the claim application by the Award under appeal. Aggrieved by the same, the appellants/applicants preferred the present appeal, challenging that the Tribunal had not appreciated the evidence on record in proper perspective. It is contended that the deceased died due to the injuries sustained in the alleged untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train in Yellamanchili Railway Station. Heard. Perused the case file. While it was the case of the appellants/applicants that the deceased died due to the injuries sustained in the alleged untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train in Yelamanchili Railway Station on 27.8.2000, it was the case of the respondent-Railway that there is no record nor was there any information from anybody as to the alleged untoward incident of falling of any bodyfrom the train in the Yelamanchili Railway Station on the relevant date. On behalf of the Respondent-Railway, R.Ws.1 and 2 were examined, who happened to be the Passenger Train Guard and Deputy Station Superintendent respectively. They deposed that they had absolutely no information of any untoward incident or a falling of any body from the said train on the alleged date in Yelamanchili Railway Station. Thus, the burden heavily lies on the appellants/applicants to prove that the deceased died in the alleged untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train on the relevant date in Yelamanchili Railway Station. On behalf of the appellants/applicants, AW.1 was examined, but she is not an eye witness to the alleged incident. A perusal of Ex.A.1—FIR discloses that the same was not issued based on the information issued by the Railway authorities, but based on the intimation given by the K.G. Hospital, Visakhapatnam informing the death of the deceased admitted in the hospital on 28.8.2000. Though Ex.A.2-Inquest report discloses that the deceased died due to accidentally falling down while hurriedly boarding the train, the opinion of the panchayatdars itself created doubts as to how they came to such conclusion when the alleged inquest was conducted on 3.9.2000 for the alleged incident occurred on 27.8.2000. Furthermore, the opinion of the panchayadars itself goes against the appellants/applicants that the deceased in a hurried manner tried to board the moving train which showed the negligence and carelessness on the part of the deceased. In such a scenario, the appellants/applicants failed to take necessary steps to examine the panchayatdars who conducted inquest on the dead body of the deceased on 3.9.2000. Non- examination of the panchayatdars to Inquest report and any of the direct witnesses to the alleged incident is fatal to the case of the appellants/applicants. The burden and it being remained undischarged, there is no other option except to accept the case of the respondent-railways. The decision relied on by the learned Counsel for the appellants in the case of Parisa Anjali Vs. Union of India (2011 ACJ 693) is of no avail to the case of the appellants/applicants. In that case the issue that arise for consideration was whether the deceased could be treated as a bona fide passenger in case he travelled in the train without ticket as he did not find time to purchase the ticket and with an intention to pay the fare to TTE. In the case on hand, the burden to be discharged on the appellants is that the deceased died in an untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train on the alleged date in Yelamanchili Railway Station. In as much as the appellants/applicants have failed to establish the death of the deceased was due to untoward incident of accidentally falling from the train on 28.2.2000 in the Yelamanchili Railway Station, the Tribunal considering the fact that the deceased succumbed to injuries in the hospital deserved that the deceased appears to have acted carelessly and negligently to suffer a self inflected injury which is an exception to the proviso to Section 124-A of the Railways Act. Ultimately, the Tribunal held that the death of the deceased was not an untoward incident of accidental fall from any train within the premises of Railway Station of Yelamanchili and accordingly dismissed the appeal filed by the applicants. In view of the foregoing discussion, I do not see any merit in the present appeal, which is dismissed accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs. -------------------------------------- JUSTICE ASHUTOSH MOHUNTA Dated 29TH NOVEMBER, 2011. Msnro