NEW DELHI: A Rohini court has denied compensation to the kin of a man who died in an accident when his motorcycle collided with a car.
The court held that the motorcyclist had been driving on the wrong side of the road and was, therefore, legally wrong.
"The accident is unfortunate. But the court has rightly denied compensation to the individual. Driving on the wrong side of a road is a punishable road offence and sometimes causes serious accidents. To compensate rule-breakers would be to encourage them.-Timesview"
The presiding officer of the Motor Act Claims Tribunal decreed that victims driving in the wrong direction on the road weren’t entitled to any compensation. The court further said such victims would not receive compensation even if they had been grievously injured in the accident because the vehicle accused of causing the injuries or casualty was driving on the correct side of the road.
The judge noted that the incident had occurred at 2am and it is apparent that at night a vehicle driving in the right direction on the road and within the prescribed speed limit would not be expecting another vehicle to be coming towards it in the wrong direction.
In the incident, the motorbike collided with a car in which the pillion rider died and the person at the handlebars was grievously injured. The bike had approached the car from the wrong direction on the road. The family of the deceased moved court seeking compensation from the car driver. The family also alleged that the car was being driven in a rash and negligent manner.
However, in its order, the court noted, “The car was being driven within the permitted speed limit… It would not be right to put the blame of the death on the car driver or its owner.” It added that it would also be an injustice to seek compensation from the car driver based on the version of the accident given by the victim's family.
The driver of the car had submitted before the court that he has been wrongly pulled up by the victim's family as he was driving on the right side of the road when the accident happened at night.
