MUMBAI: Dhiraj Solanki, 40, was a schoolboy when he fell out of an overcrowded train at Santacruz railway station and lost his right leg. The accident, he says, altered the course of his life. What made it even harder was that the Western Railway had labelled him a “trespasser” illegally crossing railway tracks and, hence, not eligible for compensation.23 years on, justice for railway commuter who lost a legIn a recent order, however, the Bombay High Court said the railway’s claim “cannot be believed”. The court also enhanced the interest on the ₹1.90 lakh compensation awarded to Solanki by the Railway Accident Claims Tribunal (RACT) in 2005.First before RACT and then before the high court, the railway had maintained that Solanki was knocked down by a train at the end of platform no 1 near Santacruz station. Furthermore, the station master’s memo had described him as a “trespasser” without a valid ticket. RACT, however, was not convinced and, in 2005, the tribunal awarded Solanki compensation of ₹1.90 lakh with 6% annual interest. Solanki, who suffered a “traumatic amputation”, however, did not receive the compensation because the central government, for the railways, appealed against RACT’s decision in 2006.More than two decades later, Solanki, a resident of Vile Parle (east), is still haunted by the events of January 24, 2003. “My friends and I boarded a Churchgate-bound train at Vile Parle. The compartment was very crowded and I was standing near the door and hanging out of the train,” he said. While Solanki survived the fall after hitting a pole, it changed his life irreversibly, affecting his education and employment. “The head injury affected my memory too. I stopped going to school after Class 8. I couldn’t remember things very well. I started getting better only after 2009-2010.”Solanki remembers lying on a stretcher in Vile Parle’s R N Cooper Hospital corridor, his right leg bleeding. “I was taken to the hospital by the police. Things were very different in 2003. I had a head injury too. I was shifted to Nanavati Hospital, where my mother worked. I was in a coma for a month and a half and my leg was amputated below the knee,” Solanki told HT.His lawyer Sainand Chaugule told the high court that his client had filed an affidavit of evidence, stating that he had bought a ticket to travel from Vile Parle to Dadar and the tribunal had held that he was a bona fide passenger.A single judge bench of Justice Rajesh Patil observed that the railway had not examined any witnesses to support its case. In his order, he said, “The case of the Railways that he (Solanki) was knocked down at the end of Platform No 1 and he was trespasser and crossing the railway track cannot be believed…. According to me, the accident has not occurred while the applicant (Solanki) was crossing the railway line.”Justice Patil also enhanced the annual interest on the ₹1.90 lakh compensation awarded by RACT from 6% to 9%. The high court has now allowed Solanki to withdraw the compensation deposited by the railway with RACT.Solanki, who wears a prosthetic limb, says long walks are still difficult. “If I walk for too long, it gets painful. Sometimes, my leg bleeds if I strain it - even after all these years,” he said.Solanki said he isn’t fit for employment, which is why the compensation will make a difference to him, even 23 years later. His wife works in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and he has a son in Class 10. “I was not too hopeful about getting the compensation but I will be grateful for it even now.”According to data shared by the Mumbai Railway Police Commissionerate under the Right to Information Act, between January 1 and December 31, 2025, 525 people died after falling from local trains on both suburban railways, while 1,188 people were injured.