Railways Liable To Pay Compensation Even If Death Caused By Unauthorized Track Crossing If It Fails To Implement Sufficient Preventive Measures: Madhya Pradesh High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that the Railways is liable to pay compensation even if death is caused by unauthorized track crossings, if it fails to implement preventive measures.

The Court was considering Appeals against an order passed by Railway Claims Tribunal absolving Railways of liability to pay compensation on account of deaths caused while crossing the railway lines.

The Bench of Justice Himanshu Joshi observed, "On perusal of record, this Court finds that the Railway has failed to prove that they have taken each and every preventive measure to restrict the persons from crossing the railway lines and, therefore, failure to take such preventive measures amounts to negligence or breach of statutory duty, and supports the finding that the death occurred due to an “untoward incident” under Section 124-A even if the person crossed the tracks; if crossing is accessible or easy even for a three years child, it implies a systemic failure of the railway to restrict access."

The Appellants were represented by Advocate Vinayak Shah, while the Respondent was represented by Advocate Ashish Agrawal.

Facts of the Case

The facts of the case are that a group of 8 to10 persons went to Maihar for tonsure ceremony of the son of the Appellant. While returning, they boarded on train which was overcrowded and while the train started moving, the victims fell down from the train and got trapped and ran over by another train passing at the very moment, resulting in the death of all three on the spot. By filing a written statement, the Railway denied the accident, stating that indeed the deceased persons were crossing the railway lines, while they were hit by a passing through train which was also supported with the D.R.M. report.

The Tribunal thus concluded that the deceased persons were not boarded on a train and claimants have failed to prove the accident to be an untoward accident as defined in Section 123 (c) of the Railways Act and thus, the Railway is not liable to pay any compensation.

Counsel for the Appellants argued that they have satisfactorily proved that the deceased persons were boarded on a train having valid journey tickets and the burden lies upon the Railway to prove the contrary

Reasoning By Court

The Court was of the opinion that even if the deceased persons were crossing the railway tracks unauthorizedly to reach to other platform, the claim for compensation under Section 124-A of the Railways Act, 1989, may still be maintainable; if it is established that the death occurred due to an “untoward incident” and that the railway administration failed in its statutory duty to ensure safety by preventing unauthorized access to the tracks.

"Contributory negligence or unauthorized entry alone does not automatically absolve the railway administration of liability, unless the case falls within the exceptions provided viz. suicide, self-inflicted injury, own criminal act, intoxication, or natural cause", the Court ruled.

The Appeal was accordingly allowed.

Cause Title: Vishnu Prasad Prajapati v. Union of India

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