
BENGALURU: The Karnataka The Karnataka High Court enhanced the compensation from Rs 15.70 lakh to Rs 35.53 lakh to be paid by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to the parents of deceased Mary Sindhu, a BE civil engineering student killed in a road accident due to rash and negligent driving by the driver of a bus in 2015.
A division bench of Justices KS Mudagal and Vijaykumar A Patil ordered BMTC to pay the compensation with an interest of 6 percent per annum from the date of the petition till its realisation. The parents moved the high court against the order of the tribunal which awarded a compensation of Rs 15.07 lakh with 9 percent interest per annum. On the other hand, BMTC challenged the tribunal order.
“On appreciation of the oral and documentary evidence on record, we are of the considered view that the Tribunal is fully justified in recording the finding that the driver of the BMTC bus was negligent and the Corporation is liable to pay the compensation.
The said finding of the Tribunal is neither perverse nor contrary to the evidence on record calling for interference in the appeal filed by the BMTC,” the court said. Mary Franchana and Christy Babu, the parents of the victim – Mary Sindhu, and her brother from CV Raman Nagar in the city moved the high court in 2017, seeking a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the death of their daughter in a road traffic accident that occurred on November 12, 2015.
Mary Sindhu was riding the pillion on a scooter and they were proceeding on Hosur Main Road when they reached PES College, Konappana
Agrahara in the city. The scooter rider was riding at moderate speed on the extreme left side of the road by observing traffic rules. The BMTC driver, who was driving at high speeds in a rash and negligent manner, crashed into the scooter. The impact threw the rider and pillion rider onto the road and they were dragged to a distance. Mary Sindhu, who sustained multiple injuries, was shifted to a hospital, but shed died on November 15, 2015.