Mother of Joy Ride Mishap Victim Gets Rs 25 Lakh Relief

The family of an air hostess who died in an accident in a theme park in 2012, received Rs 25 lakh as compensation from the park management.
Mother of Joy Ride Mishap Victim Gets Rs 25 Lakh Relief

CHENNAI: The family of a 20-year-old air hostess who died in an accident in  a theme park in 2012, on Wednesday received a cheque for Rs 25 lakh as compensation from the park management.  Sasule Magh (60), mother of the deceased Afia Magh (20), received the compensation.

The Madras High Court also made it clear that if the State Consumer Forum fixed a compensation above this amount, the management would have to pay the balance.

On October 2, 2012, Afia Magh, the air hostess, visited the EVP Theme Park at Chembarambakkam, Chennai, with nine of her friends. While she was enjoying a ride named ‘The Octopus’,  she was thrown off the ride and suffered serious injuries. Afia later died in a private hospital.

A preliminary probe revealed the incident took place because of negligence on the part of the park. The park owner E V Perumalsamy Reddy was arrested on November 20, 2012, and remanded in judicial custody. His wife Rajeswari and son EVR Santhosh Reddy obtained anticipatory bail.

Claiming that no motive can be attributed to them for the occurrence of the incident on account of failure in the mechanism of the ride, the petitioners sought to quash the criminal proceedings against them.

Contending that it is necessary to establish the proximity between the act done, the knowledge and the death to constitute an offence under Section 304 part (ii) of IPC, the petitioner argued that they cannot be charged for culpable homicide. They further offered to offer compensation to the bereaved.

Accepting the offer, Sasule Mag’s counsel Vasugi Ramanan informed the court about a consumer case pending before the State Consumer Forum against the petitioner. Recording the submissions, Justice PN Prakash quashed the criminal proceedings against the petitioners.

On the consumer case pending before the forum, the judge said if the award granted by the forum exceeded Rs 25 lakh, the balance amount shall be paid by the theme park and in case it is less, the victim’s family need not refund the balance amount.

After the proceeding, the cheque for the amount was handed over to Sasule Magh in the presence of her advocate Vasugi Ramanan, and R C Paul Kanagaraj, representing the amusement park.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com