BIPAL BASHIDAS Vs. ORIENTAL INSURANCE COMPANY LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal, preferred under Section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (hereinafter referred to as 'the M.V. Act') has arisen out of the award, dated 12.7.1996, passed in T.S. (MAC) 163 of 1995, by the Member, Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, West Tripura, Agartala (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal ') dismissing the application for compensation made under Section 166 of the M.V. Act by the claimant-appellant.

(2.) The material facts leading to the present appeal may, in brief, be set out as follows:- The claimant-appellant herein, Smti. Bipal Bashi Das, made an application under Section 166 of the M.V. Act seeking compensation for a sum of Rs. 11,00,000/- for the death of her husband, Kartik Das, who allegedly died in a motor vehicular accident, her case being, in brief, thus : On 6.4.1994, the claimant's husband, Kartik Das, boarded a Jeep bearing registration No. TRT 1867 for going to Teliamura from Taidubazar. Some other passengers also boarded the said Jeep. As Amarpur-Teliamura road was infested by extremists and possibilities of extremists' attack on public vehicles passing over the road in the said area were very high, there was panic in the said area on account of extremist activities and it was, usually, considered unsafe to undertake journey through Amarpur- Teliamura Road, the claimant's husband (since deceased) and other passengers, present in the said vehicle, requested the driver of the said vehicle to proceed towards Udaipur from Taidubazar via Amarpur and, thereafter, to Teliamura via Agartala so as to avoid possi- bilities of attack on the said vehicle, for, such a route, though a little longer, would have been free from any danger. The driver, however, did not accede to the requests so made by the passengers and started driving the vehicle along Amarpur-Teliamura Road, which was, though a shorter route, was full of possibilities of attack by the extremists. As soon as the vehicle reached Pathar Quarry near 7 miles under Taidu Police Station, some extremists started firing aiming at the vehicle. As a result of the said firing, the claimant's husband sustained bullet injuries and when he was brought to Teliamura hospital, he was declared dead. Terming that the act of driving the said vehicle by its driver through insecured, though shorter route, amounted to careless and negligent driving of the vehicle leading to the death of the claimant's husband, the claimant sought for compensation of Rs. 11,00,000/-.

(3.) The respondent No. 2 herein, namely, owner of the vehicle contested the claim by filing his written statement, wherein, while admitting that the claimant's husband, Kartik Das, was a passenger in the said vehicle and that the vehicle was fired upon by the extremists at the area aforementioned, resulting into Kartik Das's death and also sustaining of injuries by other co-passengers, the owner submitted, inter alia, that the said vehicle was driven cleverly by its driver, who managed to reach Teliamura hospital despite attack on the vehicle by the extremists, and, in these premises, this respondent contended that the claim application was not maintainable.