Road accident victim's family gets over Rs 14 lac compensation

The family members of a youth, who died in a road accident involving a rashly driven bus, have been awarded a compensation of over Rs 14 lakh by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) here.
The tribunal directed the National Insurance Company, the insurer of the offending bus, to pay Rs 14,46,301 to the wife, three minor kids and mother of 26-year-old Ram Kishore, who was riding his cycle-rickshaw when a speeding bus hit him on a flyover in east Delhi in 2010, leading to his death on the spot.
"The driver of the bus has not stepped into the witness box to state as to how accident occurred and to depose that he was not at fault and was not driving the vehicle in rash and negligent manner," MACT Presiding Officer Kiran Bansal said, awarding the compensation to the victim's family.

While deciding the case in favour of the victim, the tribunal also relied on the documents pertaining to the accident produced before it, including the post-mortem report of Kishore and mechanical inspection reports of the vehicles involved in the accident.
Directing the insurance company to pay the compensation, the tribunal also noted that no evidence was produced by the insurance company in its defence to show that there was any violation of the insurance policy by the driver or the owner of the bus.
According to the petition filed by Kishore's wife Seema, he was riding his rickshaw on April 27, 2010 morning and when he reached a flyover near Shahdara, a rashly and negligently driven bus hit him from behind.

Due to the impact, Kishore fell down and died on the spot. He is survived by his mother, wife Seema and three minor children.
The tribunal noted that the driver of the bus did not file any written statement and rejected the claim of the owner that the victim was at fault as it was his negligent attitude which led to the accident.