HYDERABAD: It was not just going after one of the biggest insurance companies in the country but also challenging a district consumer forum order by a housewife from Warangal at the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. Nearly 16 years after she had first made an accident claim with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, it was in January this year that she could get benefits for the amount that was accorded in the policy guidelines.
The SCDRC set aside the order pronounced by the District Consumer Forum of Warangal and asked the insurance company to pay the insurance claim with interest for all the 16 years. In 2002 K Bharathamma, a middle-aged woman of Warangal, lost her husband Komuraiah in a fire accident. The fire was caused due to a family dispute when one of Komuraiah’s family member tried to set herself ablaze. While trying to save her, Komuraiah suffered burns to which he succumbed. Bharathamma, being Komuraiah’s nominee, wrote to the LIC to claim the assured sum through her husband’s four insurance policies. The varying benefits amounted to Rs 1.66 lakh. But, to her surprise, the company paid insured value only under natural death benefits but not accidental death benefits.
When Bharathamma moved the district consumer forum in Warangal, the president impugned the complaint as the company representatives established that Komuraiah’s death was ‘suicidal’ and was in a ‘drunken’ state when the incident occurred. Later, the case was dismissed in 2014. Justice BN Rao Nalla of SCDRC called for reports submitted by the police department as well as the forensic laboratory to ascertain whether the death was accidental in nature. But it came to light that the death was not a “suicide” but “suicidal” in nature. The fact was confirmed by the FIR submitted by police and the inquest report, to ascertain circumstances that surround a death, submitted by a medical practitioner. Interestingly, there were no alcohol traces found in the samples.Justice Nalla ordered that the company should pay `1.66 lakh along with 9 per cent interest per annum from the date of the first filing for the claim, which is March 16, 2002.