Part 2 | One law, many verdicts: Some got relief for ‘pain and suffering’, others did not

These are 2 of the respective cases successful which varying amounts were awarded arsenic further compensation by antithetic RCTs for akin injuries oregon trauma successful one of the worst bid accidents successful the country’s history.

Reason: The wellness conditions listed by the applicants were not covered by the Railway Accidents and Untoward Incidents (Compensation) Amendment Rules — a 34-year-old law, past amended successful 2016, nether which specified alleviation is decided, according to an probe by The Indian Express of records obtained nether the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

In a nutshell, this means that immoderate nonaccomplishment oregon trauma that falls extracurricular the injuries oregon disabilities specified successful the instrumentality leaves country for antithetic interpretations by the six tribunals proceeding the cases successful Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Patna, Chennai and Bhopal.

These tribunals,  acceptable up nether the Railway Claims Tribunal Act, 1987, are for speedy adjudication of claims and expeditious outgo of compensation to the victims of obstruction accidents and to those whose goods are mislaid oregon damaged successful rail-transit.

For “non-scheduled” injuries, the maximum magnitude RCTs tin grant is Rs 1.6 lakh.

The instrumentality specifies astir 40 injuries — ranging from fractures to amputation — and the compensation that should beryllium awarded for them successful obstruction accidents. But lawsuit records from Balasore amusement that complaints ranging from symptoms of station traumatic accent disorders (PTSD), specified arsenic intelligence trauma and “flashbacks”, to carnal symptom are not covered. In galore of these cases, the RCT judges granted what they felt was “reasonable” compensation successful the “interest of justice”.

The records bespeak this variation: Of the 2 tribunal benches that heard the astir pleas, Kolkata (553 cases) handed retired an mean payout per idiosyncratic of Rs 53,670 for injuries and Bhubaneswar (202 cases) Rs 1.06 lakh successful the aforesaid class (see chart).

On Saturday, The Indian Express reported that for the 1,102 radical who were either injured oregon died successful the accident, astir 841 claims were filed for further alleviation earlier RCTs. Of these, astatine slightest 450 cases of injuries did not suffice nether the compensation law, accounting for adjacent to 70 per cent of specified cases that were heard by RCT benches. Said elder Railway Ministry official: “Going to the RCT is regular and owed process. The Railways successful genuine cases actively helps passengers and their relatives to get the highest imaginable relief.”

Indeed, successful immoderate cases, the tribunals themselves approached the victims based connected accusation provided by the Railways to facilitate filing of the application.

An investigation by The Indian Express of implicit 800 RCT orders besides shows that retired of the 233 cases successful which the Railways did not assistance ex gratia, the West Bengal authorities gave ex gratia of Rs 96.45 lakh successful a full of 143 injured cases. Apart from this, successful astatine slightest 42 cases involving West Bengal residents, the Railways and the authorities authorities some gave ex gratia totalling Rs 58.48 lakh. The records bash not notation immoderate alleviation awarded by different states.

It was connected June 2, 2023, that the Coromandel Express from Howrah to Chennai collided with a stationary goods train, and 21 of its derailed coaches went connected to deed the tail-end of Yesvantpur Express, adjacent the Bahanaga Bazar presumption successful Balasore.

Several of the victims told The Indian Express that they were aboriginal contacted by backstage lawyers to record assertion petitions successful the RCTs. “The lawyers took details specified arsenic acknowledgment of DNA examination, decease certificate, Aadhaar card, slope account, infirmary bills, etc., to record the lawsuit successful the RCT,” said 1 of the applicants.

Take the lawsuit of Sandhya Singh. She approached the Bhubaneswar RCT seat for much alleviation — implicit the Railways’ ex gratia of Rs 50,000 — aft undergoing an termination owed to injuries she sustained successful the accident. The seat noted that her nonaccomplishment did not autumn wrong the specified database of injuries. But it cited the “interest of justice” to regularisation “that an magnitude of Rs 80,000 is provided to mitigate the sufferings which arose retired of the railway accident”.

Some dodgy claims, too

Following the accident, different tricky facet that the RCT benches had to contend with, according to lawsuit records, was to find whether compensation should beryllium paid wherever a wide enactment of dependency could not beryllium established to the deceased. This, again, led to antithetic interpretations of akin cases successful astatine slightest 2 cases, records show.

Take the lawsuit of Bidyadhar Jena (48) and Pradip Kumar Jena (39), brothers of Ramesh Jena, a rider of Coromandel Express who died successful the accident. The 2 sought a full of Rs 8 lakh successful further compensation aft receiving an ex gratia magnitude of Rs 10 lakh from the Railways.

During the people of the hearings, however, it emerged that the victim’s parents had passed distant earlier, and helium had six sisters arsenic well, of which 2 had already mislaid their husbands. The RCT seat concluded that the surviving brothers were large successful age, not babelike connected the deceased and, thus, not entitled to compensation. However, citing their inclusion successful the explanation of dependents successful the Railways Act, the seat granted some the widowed sisters compensation of Rs 8 lakh to beryllium divided equally.

In different akin case, Bokaro residents Raj Kumar Soren (25) and Shekhar Soren (32) received nary ex gratia from the Railways aft their younger member Chhutu Lal Soren died successful the accident. Later, they approached the Ranchi RCT for compensation saying they worked arsenic labourers and determination was nary different idiosyncratic successful the household arsenic their parents had died agelong ago. But the tribunal declined their plea, saying they were not dependents.