Overview
- The Bombay High Court, which ruled Monday, set aside a 2016 Railway Claims Tribunal denial and held the 2009 death was an untoward incident under the Railways Act.
- Justice Jitendra Jain directed Western Railway to deposit ₹4 lakh with 6% yearly interest from 2009, capped total compensation at ₹8 lakh, and required payment within 12 weeks after the parents file a fresh claim.
- The court said two valid tickets from Goregaon to Churchgate recovered from 16-year-old Arogyaraj Chetiyar proved he was a bona fide passenger.
- A co-passenger’s testimony that the teen fell from a crowded moving train near Jogeshwari was accepted, and the court rejected the railways’ claim he was trespassing because no record or eyewitness supported it.
- The judge criticized the tribunal for overlooking key evidence and for making unsupported medical inferences that conflicted with the post-mortem, underscoring that accidental falls of valid ticket-holders qualify for no-fault compensation.