HC enables Godhra victim's family to claim compensation

AHMEDABAD: More than 13 years after the incident, a family of the victim of the Godhra carnage will be able to claim compensation from the Railways. This is after Gujarat high court ordered the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) to condone the delay in demanding compensation.
The case in question was of Amrutbhai Patel from Mehsana, who was killed on February 27, 2002 while traveling in the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express near Godhra railway station.
Fifty-nine persons lost their lives in the grotesque incident. Since the entire bogey was set ablaze, many dead bodies were unidentifiable. DNA tests established their identities, but a considerable time passed in the process. When Patel's identity was ascertained, the government paid Rs 1.5 lakh ex-gratia amount to the family on May 27, 2002.
To demand compensation from the Railways for accidental death, the family asked for a DNA report, but the request was turned down.
Moreover, the family did not get death certificate either.
Finally, Patel's widow Lilaben and their children approached a court for the declaration of Patel's death. Upon the court's order, Sola Gram Panchayat issued a death certificate on January 13, 2005. But it was too late for the RCT, which sat on the Rs 4 lakh compensation claim petition for the next seven years. By then, most of the families affected by the Godhra train burning accident had got compensation of Rs 4 lakh, said the family's lawyer, Deepak Shukla.
In 2012, the RCT refused to pardon the delay of more than three years, stating that the claim should have been made within one year's time. It also questioned the bona fides of the passenger in the absence of a ticket.
The family finally moved the HC, which has ordered the RCT to act on the claim application. The high court pulled up the tribunal for "relying on unwarranted scrutiny" though it was clear that the delay was due to judicial proceedings.