₹18.9 lakh awarded to family of 28-year-old mowed down by truck
The victim, Prince, 28, was going to office on June 8, 2023, on his motorcycle. When he reached Karanpur vilage at Baddi Bypass Road, a truck driven by Gurjeet Singh of Dera Bassi came from behind in a rash and negligent manner and hit him
Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal, Panchkula, has awarded ₹18.98 lakh compensation after a motorcyclist was mowed down by a truck driver at Baddi Bypass Road last June.
The victim, Prince, 28, was going to office on June 8, 2023, on his motorcycle. When he reached Karanpur vilage at Baddi Bypass Road, a truck driven by Gurjeet Singh of Dera Bassi came from behind in a rash and negligent manner and hit him. After sustaining multiple grievous injuries, he was shifted to Civil Hospital, Kalka, where he died on June 9. The matter was reported to the police and a case under Sections 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), 304-A (death by negligence) and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against the accused in the Pinjore police station.
At the time of incident, Prince was employed as V-SAT engineer in Sysnet Global Private Limited, Chandigarh, and was also doing consultancy work. The suit was filed by his 48-year-old mother, 22-year-old sister and 18-year-old brother.
The driver of the truck and its owner Amandeep of Dera Bassi in their joint written statement said that no accident, as alleged, ever took place with the truck driven by Gurjeet Singh and a false FIR had been registered against him in collusion with the police. They added that the truck was insured and the insurance company should be liable to pay the compensation.
The insurance company, United India Insurance Company Limited pleaded that no accident took place and disputed the age, occupation, income and the amount incurred on transportation and last rites of the deceased. They alleged that Gurjeet Singh was not holding a valid driving licence to drive the vehicle in question. Further, the offending vehicle was being driven without valid route permit.
After listening to the accounts, the tribunal observed that it stood proved that the accident in question took place due to rash and negligent driving of Gurjeet Singh.
To decide the compensation, the tribunal calculated the income amount as ₹17.17 lakh with additional ₹18,000 on account of expenditure incurred on transportation of body and last rites of the deceased and ₹18,000 on account of loss of estate. Consortium cost for his mother and two siblings were calculated at ₹1.44 lakh. A total compensation of ₹18.97 lakh was calculated for the incident with 60% entitled to his mother and 20% each for his two siblings.