CHENNAI: A woman widowed following a road accident, her two children and her mother-in-law were awarded a compensation of Rs 81.9 lakh by the Tiruvallur Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal on Thursday.
The tribunal ruled the woman’s husband P Senthil (36), an employee of a private automobile company, was killed due to the rash and negligent driving of an oil tanker on Poonamallee High road in March 2023.
Senthil was riding his two-wheeler wearing a helmet when the lorry hit him from behind. An eyewitness testified in favour of the prosecution. The case was probed by the Koyambedu traffic investigation wing, which had registered an FIR against the lorry driver for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
As per previous SC orders, the tribunal directed the insurance firm to pay Rs 81.9 lakh to Senthil’s wife, her two children and Senthil’s mother.
In another case, the tribunal ordered an insurance firm to pay Rs 25 lakh to the family of an 18-year-old, who died in a road accident, though the teenager was riding a two-wheeler without a licence.
In July 2022, the teenager, Vinoth Kanna, died on the NH leading to Vellore when his bike hit a tractor-trailer which he was trying to overtake. Though traffic police registered a criminal case against the teenager, his parents moved the tribunal for Rs 60 lakh relief. The tribunal noted Vinoth not having a driving licence, should not be construed as an act of negligence. It said contributory negligence would have to be established with other evidence.
There was an eyewitness and the tribunal discussed the probability of the accident being caused due to Vinoth’s rash driving. Since there was no rebuttal by the accused tractor driver and the firm, the tribunal held that the tractor driver’s negligent driving had caused the accident.