CHENNAI: Justice N Anand Venkatesh of the Madras High Court held that full compensation cannot be denied to an accident victim’s family on the ground that the bike-riding victim had not worn a helmet.
He was disposing of an appeal filed by an insurance firm against the award of compensation to the family members of the victim, who was a student, in a fatal accident that occurred in 2010, when a bus rammed into him in Erode district. The insurance company’s contention was that it cannot be ordered to pay the compensation because of the victim’s negligence.
The High Court judge found fault with the motor accident claims tribunal fixing contributory negligence, for the minor not wearing a helmet at the time of accident to reduce the amount of compensation due for the deceased’s family.
Pointing to the postmortem report, the judge stated that the cause of death was not only the head injuries but also multiple other injuries he had sustained, and added that the entire negligence must be fixed on the bus driver who caused the accident.