Nearly 28 years after a train accident near Khanna led to the death of a young girl and her family members, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that dependency is not confined to financial support alone, but also encompasses the love, affection, care and protection shared within a family.The ruling came as Justice Pankaj Jain upheld compensation awarded to a grandfather for the death of his granddaughter in the 1998 Khanna rail disaster. The court, in the process, rejected the Union of India’s contention that a grandparent could not maintain such a claim because he was not financially dependent on the child.The appeal filed in 1999 has its genesis in a collision between the Sealdah Express and another train near Khanna on November 26, 1998, in which the claimant’s granddaughter, along with other family members, lost her life.Available information suggests the disaster occurred on the Khanna-Ludhiana section of Northern Railway in the wee-hours when the Calcutta-bound train collided with six derailed coaches of the Amritsar-bound train lying in its path. The trains were estimated to be carrying 2,500 passengers. At least 212 people were killed in the crash considered among the deadliest rail accidents in India.Challenging Rs 4 lakh compensation ordered to be granted by the Railway Claims Tribunal following the granddaughter’s death, the Union of India through its General Manager, Northern Railway, argued before Justice Jain’s Bench that the grandfather was not entitled to compensation under the Railways Act as he was not dependent upon the granddaughter.Dismissing the appeal, Justice Jain relied on an earlier Division Bench judgment holding that dependency was not restricted to economic dependence alone. Referring to the principle laid down in the precedent, the court observed that dependence could also stem from love, affection, care and protection.Justice Jain held that grandparents could not be denied compensation for the loss of a grandchild, observing that their dependence on a grandchild for emotional support and affection could not be ignored. The court also noted that the claimant had no other grandchild.“This Court finds that a grandparent cannot be precluded from claiming compensation on account of death of a grandchild. Their dependence on the grandchild for love, affection, care and protection is hard to be ignored. There being no other grandchild of the claimant, this Court finds that the Tribunal rightly awarded compensation in favour of the respondent-claimant,” Justice Jain ruled.Finding no merit in the challenge, the court upheld the Tribunal’s award of Rs 4 lakh compensation and dismissed the appeal.