The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has ruled that the death of a foetus, sufficiently developed at over five months’ gestation, in a railway accident is considered a loss of a child. This ruling mandates that separate compensation is warranted for such cases. The decision underscores the legal recognition of foetal loss in the context of accidents, impacting how compensation claims are processed in similar incidents.
Court Orders Additional Compensation for Railway Accident Victim
In a significant ruling on September 26, 2023, the court overturned an order from the Railway Claims Tribunal in Lucknow. The tribunal had previously addressed the tragic case of a woman who died after falling from a train while pregnant. The court has now directed the railways to pay an additional ₹8 lakh as compensation for the death of her seven-month-old foetus.
The court emphasized that the absence of the term “foetus” in the Railways Act does not exempt the railways from its legal responsibilities. Under Section 124-A of the Act, the railways are liable for deaths resulting from railway accidents or untoward incidents, regardless of specific terminology used in the legislation.
Justice Prashant Kumar passed the order recently on an appeal filed by the family members of Savitri Devi, who died in the accident. Her family approached the Railway Claims Tribunal seeking compensation. The tribunal, however, declined to award separate compensation for the unborn child, holding that the foetus could not be treated as a bona fide passenger under the Railways Act. The high court, however, disagreed with the tribunal’s view, observing that the death of a sufficiently developed foetus could be treated as the death of a child for determining compensation.
“Since the woman was carrying a seven-month-old foetus, the unborn child had to be treated separately,” the court observed, directing the railways to pay an additional ₹ 8 lakh to the claimants.
she fell and sustained serious injuries, resulting in her death While getting down from the train at Biswan station. She was around seven months pregnant and the foetus also died. The woman was travelling with her two sons on the Jan Sadharan Express from Sitapur Cantt to Biswan railway station in Uttar Pradesh on June 13, 2017, according to the case.
