Title - : Kin of passenger attacked at railway station to get Rs.4 lakh

Are legal heirs of a person who die in an attack at a railway station entitled for compensation?

Yes, says the Chennai Bench of the Railway Claims Tribunal.

Ruling in favour of legal heirs of an 80-year-old woman, who died in attack by two persons on November 26 last at the Minjur railway station, the Bench said that they were entitled for compensation of Rs.4 lakh from Southern Railway.

Annammal was waiting at the station for a train to Tiruvottriyur, when the assailants attacked her and snatched a bag containing Rs.10,000. When she raised her voice, they pushed her down on the platform. Others waiting on the platform chased the attackers and caught hold of them.

The woman succumbed to injuries in hospital. Her son and daughter approached the tribunal for compensation, contending that the death was due to injuries she had suffered in the attack. The ticket purchased by their mother was lost during the attack and could not be traced, they submitted.

Southern Railway denied the incident and maintained that Annammal was not a bona fide passenger as there was no ticket. The Government Railway Police had only registered a case of theft [and not based on eyewitness report].

It pleaded that as per the post-mortem report, the deceased appeared to have died of acute heart failure which was, in turn, caused by the coronary artery disease. So, the Railway administration was not liable to pay any compensation.

The Bench, comprising vice-chairman G.K. Chaturvedi and member D.K. Chakma said, “A bare reading of 123(c) (ii) of the Railways Act 1989 clearly implies that violent attack on any person in a waiting hall, cloak room or reservation or booking office or any platform or any other place within the precincts of a railway station will attract the said provision.”

It also noted that “the opinion of the doctor in this regard who did the autopsy that this violent attack could have triggered heart attack resulting in her death, cannot be ruled out.”

Treating her as a bona fide passenger, the Bench pointed out that it was likely that such a passenger held a valid ticket but it was lost.