The Delhi High Court has awarded ₹ 23 lacks as compensation to the family of a 12-year-old boy who died after drowning in a water-filled ditch dug up by a private contractor for work being carried out for the Northern Railway in 2013.

A single-headed bench of Justice Najmi Waziri said negligence by the Northern Railway, as well as the contractor, led to the loss of life of an innocent boy as the site neither had a safety guard nor measures were taken to prevent any living being from wandering towards it.

"The respondents were neither vigilant nor sensitive in taking appropriate safety measures at the site to avoid any unfortunate accident. It was the duty of the respondents to take proper diligence and care at the site to avoid any accidents.

Their negligence led to the loss of life of an innocent boy," said the bench, also comprising Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, in an order passed recently.

"Children used to play in the open unhindered area. Nothing has been brought on record to show that the children were cautioned or restrained or forewarned from playing in the open field.

A young boy of about 12 years does not know the difference between a railways land or land of other civic agency," stated the court.

"The children of the locality used to play on said open land in which the unsecured rainy well was dug up; while playing in the said area the boy of 12 years fell into the pit/trench and lost his life," it added.

The court was delivering its judgement on an appeal by the family against the decision of a single judge of the high court rejecting their petition seeking ₹ 15 lakhs compensation on the ground that a sum of over ₹ 3 lahks had already been paid to them by the contractor pursuant to a settlement to close the criminal proceedings against him.

An FIR was registered by the police for the alleged commission of offences under the Indian Penal Code, including punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

The court said receiving compensation towards discharge of criminal liability arising out of the FIR did not disentitle the family from claiming further compensation from the respondents for the commission of a civil wrong.

The court observed the Northern Railway cannot be absolved from its responsibility of taking proper safety measures at the site even after award of contract to another entity, and both the parties would be jointly and severally liable for their act of negligence and to pay compensation.