Madhya Pradesh High Court
Smt. Renu Devi vs Union Of India on 17 October, 2022
Author: Vivek Agarwal
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE VIVEK AGARWAL
ON THE 17th OF OCTOBER, 2022
MISC. APPEAL No. 2868 of 2022
BETWEEN:-
1. SMT. RENU DEVI W/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI R/O
VILLAGE BARDAHIYA P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT-
CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
2. KU. KHUSHBU D/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI
OCCUPATION: MINOR THROUGH NATURAL GUARDIAN
SMT. RENU DEVI BEING MOTHER R/O VILLAGE
BARDAHIYA P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT- CHHAPRA
(BIHAR)
3. AKASH S/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI OCCUPATION:
MINOR THROUGH NATURAL GUARDIAN SMT. RENU
DEVI BEING MOTHER R/O VILLAGE BARDAHIYA
P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT- CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
4. ANKU S/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI OCCUPATION:
MINOR THROUGH NATURAL GUARDIAN SMT. RENU
DEVI BEING MOTHER R/O VILLAGE BARDAHIYA
P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT- CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
5. ANSHU S/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI OCCUPATION:
MINOR THROUGH NATURAL GUARDIAN SMT. RENU
DEVI BEING MOTHER R/O VILLAGE BARDAHIYA
P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT- CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
6. YUVRAJ S/O LATE SHYAMBABU RAI OCCUPATION:
MINOR THROUGH NATURAL GUARDIAN SMT. RENU
DEVI BEING MOTHER R/O VILLAGE BARDAHIYA
P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT- CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
7. SMT. GAUTAM DEVI W/O LATE SATYANARAYAN RAI
R/O VILLAGE BARDAHIYA P.S.MATHOURA DISTRICT-
CHHAPRA (BIHAR)
.....APPELLANTS
Signature Not Verified
SAN
(BY SMT.APARNA SINGH, ADVOCATE)
Digitally signed by AMIT JAIN
AND
Date: 2022.10.18 20:09:22 IST
UNION OF INDIA THROUGH GENERAL MANAGER WEST
2
CENTRAL RAILWAY JABALPUR (MADHYA PRADESH)
.....RESPONDENT
(BY SHRI CHANDRA MOHAN TIWARI, ADVOCATE)
This appeal coming on for hearing this day, the court passed the following:
ORDER
This Miscellaneous Appeal is filed by the appellants/claimants under Section 23 of
the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987 being aggrieved of judgment dated 5.4.2022
passed in Claim Case No.OA-IIu/BPL/11/2019 by learned Member (Technical), Railway
Claims Tribunal, Bhopal Bench, Bhopal rejecting their claim on account of treating the
deceased Shyam Babu Rai not to be a bonafide passenger of the Train on the basis of
certain contradictions in the evidence of the witnesses.
Smt.Renu Devi, wife of deceased Shyam Babu Rai in her examination-in-chief
deposes that on 9.12.2017, her husband was travelling from Jabalpur Railway Station by
Lucknow Express upto Kanpur and had fallen down at Maihar from a moving Train and
sustained injuries, which resulted in his death. In cross-examination, she admits that she
had not seen the incident and how the incident took place is not known to her. She
admits that her husband had not purchased any ticket in front of her. She admits that on
6.12.2017, her husband had travelled upto Nagpur with Ranjeet Rai. She admits that no
ticket was seized from the possession of deceased Shyam Babu Rai. The ticket, which
was produced by her, is that of Ranjeet Rai and her husband has nothing to do with the
said ticket.
Ranjeet Rai (AW.1) admits that deceased Shyam Babu Rai was his brother-in-law
(Sala). They both had travelled to Nagpur and they returned from Nagpur by purchasing
tickets from Nagpur to Jabalpur via Amravati Jabalpur Express for which they had
Signature Not Verified
purchased tickets to travel upto Kanpur and had reached Jabalpur on 9.12.2017.
SAN
Deceased Shyam Babu Rai had stayed back at Jabalpur whereas Ranjeet Rai (AW.1) had
Digitally signed by AMIT JAIN
Date: 2022.10.18 20:09:22 IST
travelled upto Patna. In cross-examination, Ranjeet Rai (AW.1) admits that he has no
idea as to how deceased Shyam Babu Rai died. He had not given any intimation to the
Police. He is producing his own ticket(s). He had received intimation about the incident
after about one month. He produced photocopy of the ticket, which was attested by Shri
Ashok Shrivastava, learned counsel as true copy. He admits that the original copy is with
G.R.P, Maihar. No explanation could be given as to how Shri Ashok Shrivastava,
Advocate without looking at the original copy of the ticket could have marked true copy
on a photocopy.
A perusal of the tickets as produced by Ranjeet Rai (AW.1) reveals that the tickets
were purchased for journey from Nagpur to Kanpur Central via Jhansi as is evident from
Ticket No.AJ83526364. Another ticket was purchased from Jabalpur to Patna. In the first
ticket, the date of journey is mentioned as 8.12.2017 whereas in the second ticket from
Jabalpur to Patna, the date of journey is mentioned as 9.12.2017. The aforesaid tickets do
not pertain to deceased Shyam Babu Rai. The first ticket for journey from Nagpur to
Kanpur Central is via Jhansi on which route neither Jabalpur nor Maihar are the stations
enroute. From Nagpur to Jhansi, the Train moves through Bhopal and then from Jhansi it
goes to Kanpur. Hence, it is evident that the appellants/claimants tried to concoct the
evidence by filing false & incorrect tickets. No eye-witness account could be produced
showing that deceased Shyam Babu Rai had boarded the Train from Jabalpur to travel
upto Kanpur or anybody had seen him buying the ticket(s).
Thus, it is apparent from the evidence, which has come on record that there are
glaring contradictions, which parties have failed to prove their case that deceased Shyam
Babu Rai was a bonafide passenger on the Train and died while travelling as bonafide
passenger. The appellants/claimants cannot take advantage of such contradictions. No
Signature Not Verified
SAN case is made out for showing indulgence.
Digitally signed by AMIT JAIN
Date: 2022.10.18 20:09:22 IST
Accordingly, this Miscellaneous Appeal fails and is dismissed.
Let record of the Railway Claims Tribunal be sent back.
(VIVEK AGARWAL)
JUDGE
amit
Signature Not Verified
SAN
Digitally signed by AMIT JAIN
Date: 2022.10.18 20:09:22 IST
