SUO MOTU Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This suo motu writ petition was registered as per the direction issued by a learned Division Bench of this Court consisting of Hon'ble Mr. Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ziyad Rahman A. A, in the order dtd. 10/9/2021, basically to vindicate the grievances, in the matter of compensation to the dependents of the accident victims under Sec. 10A of the Employees' Compensation Act, 1923 ('Act, 1923' for short) .

(2.) For convenience, it is only appropriate that the order dtd. 10/9/2021 of the learned Division Bench is extracted as such, and it reads thus:

(3.) Accidental murder: The law on this issue has been settled by the Supreme Court in Rita Devi v. New India Assurance Co. Ltd. 2000 ACJ 801 (SC). The Supreme Court laid down a test to distinguish between "murder simpliciter " and "accidental murder. " Para 10 of the judgment highlights this distinction and is reproduced hereunder: