Tribunal also held that the respondent have not adduced any evidence to establish that the incident would not come under Section 123(c)(2) of the Railways Act, 1989 and the respondent is not liable under Section 124A of the said Act. Moreover, the Tribunal went on to hold that the applicants, the appellants herein have proved that the deceased died in an untoward incident on 10.4.2006 while travelling by the train. After holding so, the Tribunal has clearly erred in dismissing the claim petition only on the ground that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger. When the inquest report filed by the Chengalpattu Railway Police Station in Crime No.79 of 2006 under Section 174 Cr.P.C., dated 10.4.2006 itself clearly revealed that the deceasedJagan, while travelling in a EMU train had dashed against a post, sustained grievous head injuries and died on the spot and that there were no other reasons for his death, since he had fallen down from the UP train, the burden lies upon the Railways to prove that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger. Similarly, in the case of the deceased-Ekambaram is concerned, when the claim petition was filed by the wife and minor children of the deceased on the ground that the deceased while travelling in a train plying between Beach and Tambaram had fallen down in between Chetpet and Nungambakkam railway stations on 28.5.2002 and died due to the injury to the chest and abdomen, the respondent resisted the said claim also on the ground that the deceased was not a bona fide passenger, when the inquest report shows that the incident had actually taken place on the said date. Moreover, the Tribunal also discarded the evidence of one R.Murugan, an eyewitness, who was examined as A.W.2, on the ground that his statement was contradictory to the materials available on record. In my view, the Tribunal miserably failed to consider the judgments of the various High Courts, holding that the benefit of doubt that the deceased could have been a bona fide passenger should be given, while dealing with a beneficial piece of legislation. In this context, it is relevant to refer to the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Union of India v. Prabhakaran Vijaya Kumar and others, (2008) 4 MLJ 323 (SC), wherein the Apex Court, while interpreting the expression accidental falling of a passenger from a train carrying passengers which
