BALA DEVI Vs. RAJ KUMAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appeal has been filed at the instance of the legal representatives of deceased Lal Chand against the dismissal of the claim petition. The accident had taken place on 24.10.1992 near Salwan bus stand when the deceased who was riding a motor cycle hit by the vehicle coming from opposite side driven by respondent No.1 in a rash and negligent manner. The deceased was taken to the hospital where he succumbed to the injuries. A FIR was lodged at the instance of Rajpal the following day on 25.10.1992 who stated that he was a resident of village Salwan and around 8 PM when he was standing on the road in front of his house, a person came from Assandh side on his motor cycle and when he reached near shop of one Suresh, a Tata 407 which was driven rashly and negligently by his driver came from Ballah side swerved to the side of motorcycle, dashed against it and scurried towards Assandh. He did not give the number of the vehicle nor the name of the driver at the time of lodging FIR.

(2.) THE respondents in their written statement denied the accident and contended that they have been falsely implicated in the case to claim the compensation and they have moved to the higher authorities with regard to their false implication because the investigating officer was a relative of the deceased. They also contended that the deceased was in a drunken state and was driving the motor cycle in a rash and negligent manner. He lost control over the vehicle and struck against the harrow, an equipment used for cultivating fields.

(3.) TO support their version the claimants examined seven witnesses on their side. PW -4 was ASI Bharat Singh, who investigated the case and gave evidence to the effect that he was posted at Police Station, Assandh. He investigated the matter and found that Raj Kumar son of Sadhu Ram was responsible for the accident. In his crossexamination, he stated that he did not join any person from bus stand village Salwan who could depose about the eye witness account and even the shop keepers who joined the investigation refused to comment anything about the occurrence because they pleaded that it was a matter concerning their village. He came to know about the time of accident at 8 pm from some women of the village and he volunteered the information that it was a rumour. It was the next day only when he came to know about the number of the offending vehicle and name of the driver through one Zile Singh on whose statement he carried forward the investigation. However, he denied the suggestion that he was a relative of the deceased and any complaint has been given against him by the driver Raj Kumar. PW -6 was Zile Singh on whose statement the investigating officer came to know about the whereabouts of the offending vehicle and the driver. He corroborated to the version of the claimants and said that after hitting the motor cycle, the driver of the four wheeler stopped the vehicle for some time and then sped away. He noted down the number of the four wheeler as HR -40 -1235 and shifted the injured to the hospital in a rehra. In the cross -examination, he stated that he came to village Karad to purchase a buffalo. He did not know the injured and he did not remember whether he dictated the number of the vehicle of the police or not. He did not even remember who lodged the FIR. He said that he did not make any statement to the police that he was travelling in the vehicle who caused the accident and he was dropped by the driver there without charging anything after the accident. He denied the suggestion that he was subsequently introduced as a witness because the deceased was his relative. The author of the FIR Rajpal was not examined. Another witness was PW3 Randhir Singh resident of village Smalkha who deposed on the same lines of version of Zile Singh. In the cross -examination he said that neither he went to the police station to give a complaint nor police investigated to him any point of time. He did not know about the injured and he was not even able to tell as to on which parts of the body, the injured had received injuries. Immediately after the accident he went to his village and after that he was appearing first time in the Court.