Death Of Foetus Is Death Of Child; To Be Treated As Independent Accident: Allahabad High Court Enhances Railway Accident Compensation
The Allahabad High Court was considering an appeal preferred against the judgment passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Lucknow Bench, in a Claim Application.
While observing that the foetus is treated as a child and the death of a foetus/child would be treated as an independent accident apart from the death of the mother, the Allahabad High Court has awarded an additional compensation of Rs 8 lakh as compensation for the death of a foetus.
The High Court was considering an appeal preferred against the judgment passed by the Railway Claims Tribunal, Lucknow Bench in a Claim Application.
The Single Bench of Justice Prashant Kumar held, “Though the word “foetus” is not specifically mentioned under the Railways Act, 1989, however the present case would fall within the ambit of Section 124A of the Railways Act, as the death occurred as a result of an untoward incident arising out of a railway accident, thereby attracting the statutory liability of the Railways to pay compensation to the claimants in case of death.”
“The schedule under the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Rules, 1990, which was substituted and amended in 2016 and came into force on 01.01.2017 clearly shows that in case of death, the amount of compensation for loss of an individual would be Rs.8,00,000/-. Since the foetus is treated as a child, hence death of a foetus/child would be treated as an independent accident apart from the death of the mother. Thus, the claimants are also entitled to get the additional compensation of Rs.8,00,000 for the loss of foetus”, it added.
Advocate Pradeep Kumar Singh represented the Appellant while Advocate Mahendra Kumar Misra represented the Respondent.
Factual Background
One Smt. Bhanmati was travelling by train Marudhar Express from Barabanki to Bandikul Railway Station and she was having a second class reservation ticket. While boarding the train, she accidentally fell down from the train and sustained injuries. Thereafter, she was hospitalized but died during treatment. At the time of death, she was carrying a male foetus of about 8-9 months, that also expired along with her. Thereafter, family members of the deceased filed a claim petition before the Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the deceased Bhanmati was a bona fide passenger and the death had occurred by falling from the train while she was boarding the train. The Tribunal granted a compensation of Rs 8,00,000 while noting the ambit of untoward accident as defined under Section 123(c)(2) read with Section 124A of the Railway Act, 1989.
The claimants had approached the High Court with the grievance that no compensation was granted for the death of the foetus, which the deceased was carrying, as the Tribunal had only granted compensation towards the pregnant deceased.
Reasoning
On a perusal of various judgments of different High Courts, the Bench concurred with the judgments of Karnataka High Court, Madhya Pradesh High Court, and Andhra Pradesh High Court, wherein it has been held that the death of a foetus should be considered as equal to the death of the child for computation of compensation.
The Bench stated, “In view of the above, an unborn child aged five months onwards in the mother's womb till its birth can be treated as equal to a child in existence. The unborn child, who dies in the womb, can be held to be a 'person' who can be the subject of an action for damages for his death. As already stated above a person means a human being regarded as an individual and an individual's body : concealed on his person'. Therefore, human foetus to whom personhood could be attributed was also destroyed in the accident in the instant case; had the accident not occurred the unborn child would have survived and seen the light of the day.”
The Bench thus concluded, “...the rights of the child in the mother’s womb are well protected by laws of the land as the foetus is another life in the pregnant woman and loss of foetus is actually a loss of child. Thus, this court has no hesitation in holding that an unborn child aged more than five months onwards in the mother’s womb till its birth is treated as equal to a child in existence. The unborn child to whom the live birth never comes is held to be a 'person' who can be the subject of an action for damages for his death. The appellants are, therefore, entitled to compensation for the loss of foetus independently treating the foetus as a child.”
Treating loss of foetus as a loss of child, the Bench held that the death of a foetus/child would be treated as an independent accident apart from the death of the mother. The Bench thus disposed of the appeal by modifying the Tribunal’s award by ordering that a compensation of Rs 8 lakh, along with the same interest as awarded to the mother of the foetus, should further be awarded towards the death of the foetus.
Cause Title: Shri Sukhnandan v. Union of India Thru. General Manager Northern Railway, Baroda House, New Delhi (Neutral Citation: 2026:AHC-LKO:16113)
Appearance
Appellant: Advocates Pradeep Kumar Singh, Amit Kumar, Amrita Singh
Respondent: Advocate Mahendra Kumar Misra