Tribunal comes to aid of accident victim

New Delhi: A Motor Accident Claims Tribunal has directed a private insurance firm to pay Rs 5 lakh once in four years to a 24-year-old man who suffered severe injuries and later had to get his hand amputated in a road accident involving a rashly driven vehicle. The tribunal said that the victim needs compensation for an artificial limb.

“After four years the artificial limb will expire and the victim will need a new one. Hence the private insurance firm will have to pay him Rs 5 lakh once in four years,” the tribunal noted. Apart from this, the tribunal also directed the private insurance firm to pay over Rs 19 lakh to the victim as compensation.

The victim, Sagar Bansal, had met with a severe accident in 2015. He suffered 60 per cent disability in the accident and later the doctors amputated one of his hands. Mr Bansal approached the tribunal seeking compensation. He told the court that he had to pay Rs 30 lakh for his artificial limb. “Now I am able to write with the help of this artificial limb. I can lift anything weighing up to 8 kg. But the only sad thing is that this artificial limb will expire after four years,” he informed the tribunal.

The tribunal noted that it would be good if the private insurance firm, with which the offending vehicle was insured, pay Mr Bansal Rs 5 lakh once in four years.

According to the petition filed by Mr Bansal, he was traveling in a car that was being driven by his friend. The car collided with a divider in South Delhi’s Qutub Minar Metro Station and overturned.

Mr Bansal was trapped beneath the overturned car and suffered injuries.