Citation: Anita Devi v. Union of India, FAO 15/2016, Delhi High Court (Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri), decided on 06.10.2026 | 2026:DHC:8823
A passenger who falls from a train while carrying a valid ticket is a bona fide passenger, and the Railways’ liability for an “untoward incident” under Sections 123(c)(2) and 124-A of the Railways Act is strict and beneficial. The Railways cannot reject a claim on the “run over while crossing the track” theory on the basis of the nature of injuries alone. An eyewitness or other cogent proof is needed, and the claimant is judged on the preponderance of probabilities and need not prove the incident as in a criminal trial.
The Delhi High Court has held that a woman who died after falling from a train carrying a valid ticket was a bona fide passenger, and that the Railways cannot defeat the compensation claim by merely asserting that she was run over while crossing the track. On 12 June 2013, the deceased, Renu Devi, was travelling in the general compartment of the Swatantrata Senani Express from New Delhi to Muzaffarpur. Her daughter, Anita Devi, said that she fell from the slowly moving, crowded train at Kanchosi station, after a jerk and a push from other passengers, and died. The ticket, issued from New Delhi on 11 June 2013, was recovered from her body. The Railway Claims Tribunal dismissed the claim in 2015. It accepted that the ticket was found, but said that this did not prove that she had travelled by the train or fallen from it. Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri allowed the daughter’s appeal. He noted that the Supreme Court has held that even the absence of a ticket does not automatically defeat a claim, since the claimant can place the circumstances on record and the burden then shifts to the Railways. Here, there was more, because the ticket was actually recovered and recorded in the inquest, and the Railways could not prove that it did not belong to her. On the accident, the Tribunal relied on the nature of her injuries and the police papers to hold that she was run over, but there was no eyewitness, no loco-pilot’s statement and nothing to show that she was crossing the track or which train hit her. The court said that the nature of injuries alone cannot prove this, and a dispute over the manner of the fall does not make the ticket irrelevant. Citing Prabhakaran Vijaya Kumar, he added that the Railways’ liability is strict and that a claimant need not prove the incident as in a criminal trial. The court set aside the Tribunal’s order and sent the case back to assess compensation and pay it within two months, with the first hearing on 26 November 2026.