The Supreme Court made special efforts to get compensation to a woman in a 23-year-old train accident case. Sayonkta Devi’s husband died in a train accident 23 years ago, after which the court directed the Railways to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh along with interest, but when an attempt was made to contact the woman for compensation, she could not be reached. Then the Supreme Court got the woman’s new address known through different methods and now she will be provided compensation.
According to PTI report, in the year 2023, the Supreme Court directed the Railways to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the wife of the deceased with six percent annual interest within two months from the date of filing the claim petition, but unfortunately the woman could not get information about this order of the Supreme Court because her local lawyer had passed away.
On the other hand, Railways tried to follow the order and wrote various letters to Sayonkta Devi, but due to lack of correct address, no reply could be received from her. Unable to pay compensation along with interest, the Railways expressed its helplessness in complying with the order of February 2, 2023 regarding compensation to the woman and approached the Supreme Court.
It said that the Patna High Court was also informed on March 21 that the amount had already been sanctioned, but the woman did not provide bank details to receive the compensation. The bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice N Kotishwar Singh said that the woman is now living somewhere else due to her family circumstances.
In order to trace the compensation amount to the woman, the Supreme Court directed the Principal Chief Commercial Manager of Eastern Railway in Kolkata to issue a public notice in two leading newspapers (English and Hindi) with wide circulation in that region. The court directed the Senior Superintendent of Police, Nalanda and the in-charge of Bakhtiyarpur police station to verify the address of the woman and if they are able to trace her, inform her about the acceptance of her claim and her right to receive the amount awarded.
The bench directed the SSP of Nalanda to submit a compliance report in this regard within four weeks. The Supreme Court also took the help of Bihar State Legal Services Authority and asked the Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority to personally visit the place where he was last reported to reside. The court asked the Secretary to inquire about the woman’s whereabouts and verify her current condition and submit a report within four weeks.
This month, Additional Solicitor General Brijendra Chahar told the Supreme Court that after a lot of efforts by the Railways and the local police, it was found that the name of the woman’s village was wrongly recorded, due to which all the letters sent to her were never received by her. He said that eventually the local police were successful in finding the correct village and they have also traced the woman and her family members.
The court then directed the railway authorities to pay the compensation amount to the woman with the help of the local police and directed the local police station in-charge to accompany the railway authorities to ensure that the compensation amount is deposited in her bank account.
Directing the hearing of the case on November 24, the court said, ‘The Sarpanch and other elected members of the Gram Panchayat will identify the appellant (woman) and for this purpose the Railway officials may also obtain copies of some official documents, which may be necessary to be recorded in the record. Thereafter, a compliance report be submitted to this court.
Sayonkta Devi lost her husband in a train accident in 2002. Sayonkta Devi fought a legal battle for almost two years to get compensation for her husband’s death. His claim was rejected by the Railway Claims Tribunal and the Patna High Court on the grounds that the mental condition of the deceased was not sound.
Sayonkta Devi’s husband Vijay Singh boarded the Bhagalpur-Danapur Intercity Express train from Bakhtiyarpur station on 21 March 2002 with a ticket to go to Patna, but the compartment was so crowded that he fell from the moving train at Bakhtiyarpur station and died on the spot. Sayonkta Devi challenged the High Court’s decision in the Supreme Court and filed a petition through advocate Fauzia Shakeel.
In 2023, the Supreme Court had rejected the arguments of the Railway Claims Tribunal and the Patna High Court that the mental condition of the deceased was not sound. The court set aside the order of the lower courts, terming it as completely absurd, imaginary and contrary to the undisputed facts on record.
The Supreme Court had said in its decision that the tribunal and the High Court did not accept the claim of the appellant only on the basis that the mental condition of the deceased was not good and he had fallen from an unknown train. The court said that if the mental condition of the deceased was not good, it would have been almost impossible for him to buy a railway ticket to travel to Patna and he would not have even tried to board the train alone.