Karnataka HC awards compensation to family of woman who died while boarding wrong train
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has overturned a decision by the Railway Claims Tribunal and granted Rs 8 lakh compensation to the family of a woman who tragically lost her life while attempting to board a wrong train in February 2014.
Jayamma and her sister Rathnamma inadvertently boarded the Tuticorin Express instead of the Tirupati passenger train bound for Ashokapuram/Mysore. Realising their mistake as the train started moving, they panicked and attempted to disembark. Sadly, Jayamma fell on the platform and sustained fatal injuries.
Initially, the Railway Claims Tribunal rejected the family's petition, citing Jayamma's failure to utilise available options, such as continuing the journey to the next station or pulling the alarm chain.
The Tribunal deemed Jayamma's death as a "self-inflicted injury" under Section 124-A of the Indian Railways Act, thereby denying compensation.
Justice H P Sandesh of the Karnataka High Court disagreed with the Tribunal's interpretation. He emphasised that Jayamma was a genuine passenger and her death resulted from an 'untoward incident,' as affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The Judge criticised the Tribunal's reliance on Section 124-A, stating that it was erroneously applied in this case.
Consequently, the court recently ordered the Railways to pay Rs 4 lakh compensation with 7% interest, ensuring that the final amount awarded to the family totals no less than Rs 8 lakh, inclusive of interest.
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RS Chairman accepts merger of 7 AAP MPs with BJP
New Delhi (PTI): Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on Monday officially accepted the merger of seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs with the BJP, reducing the strength of Arvind Kejriwal's party in the Upper House to three.
After this transition, the BJP's strength in the Upper House has increased to 113.
Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Sahney, Swati Maliwal, and Rajinder Gupta are the seven MPs who have merged.
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The Rajya Sabha website now shows that the seven MPs are part of the BJP list of members.
The seven MPs had on Friday petitioned the Rajya Sabha Chairman to be treated as BJP MPs after the merger and the same has been accepted, sources said.
The AAP had on Sunday moved a petition before the RS Chairman seeking the termination of the membership of the seven MPs, who had switched sides.
Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said he has submitted a petition to Chairman Radhakrishnan seeking the disqualification of the seven party MPs in the Upper House, who recently quit the AAP and announced their merger with the BJP.
On Friday last, the AAP suffered a jolt when the seven Rajya Sabha MPs quit and announced merger with the BJP, alleging that the Kejriwal-led party had strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
