NEW DELHI: A Delhi tribunal has said that mere consumption of alcohol by a road accident victim does not establish contributory negligence. Motor Accident Claims Tribunal Presiding officer Shirish Aggarwal made the observation while awarding `30.77 lakh compensation to Sachin Dhawan, who was injured in a 2018 road accident.
The tribunal said that the perusal of the medico-legal report of the petitioner revealed that his breath smelled of alcohol.
However, the quantity of alcohol consumed by the petitioner at the time of the accident is not on record, and therefore, it cannot be presumed that he was riding the motorcycle after consuming alcohol beyond the permissible limit, it said.
“Even otherwise, merely because someone has consumed alcohol within or beyond the permissible limit does not entitle anyone else to drive his vehicle rashly and hit another person who has consumed alcohol. Mere consumption of alcohol by the victim does not per se establish contributory negligence,” the tribunal said.