Bombay HC asks railways to compensate victim who lost both her legs

Mumbai: Holding that it is the railways’ responsibility to provide sufficient security to outstation trains when they run at night, the Bombay high court has directed it to decide upon the ex-gratia compensation that is to be paid to a petitioner. The petitioner had lost both legs after being run over by the train she was travelling in.

A division bench of Justices A.S. Oka and A.K. Menon was hearing a writ petition filed by Sejal Ladola complaining against the railways’ refusal to compensate her for the accident.

The petition said that “no arrangements were made by railways for protecting passengers and their articles during the night journey” as a result of which the “untoward incident” occurred.

The petition further said that she had filed the petition seeking reimbursement of medical expenditure because the railways refused to compensate her.

Defending its refusal to pay compensation to Ms Ladola, the counsel for railways said that she could not get compensated under the Railways Act, 1999 but she could apply for the same with the Railway Claims Tribunal. Dr Ajay Kumar, senior divisional medical officer of Central Railway informed the court that the remedy of applying for compensation on the ground of “untoward incident” was available to the petitioner.

After hearing both sides, the court said, “The basic issue is about the failure of the railways to provide security to passengers travelling on a train which was to undertake night journey. Railways will take appropriate decision on the question of granting ex gratia compensation to the petitioner in the light of the peculiar facts of the case.”