THANE: The
Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (MACT) directed the owner of a tempo to pay Rs 5 lakh to the family of a five-year-old girl who was mowed down in
Bhiwandi in 2013. An insurance company that was dragged to the court was absolved by
MACT member and district judge
K D Vadane as forgery of a policy came to light.
On November 2, 2013, fiveyear-old
Vaishnu was run over by the tempo while she was crossing a road in
Padmanagar in Bhiwandi. The accident took place around 10.30am. She sustained severe injuries and died on the spot.
The lawyer for the insurance company pointed out, “The policy was never issued by
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd as the number cited on it was fake. The said policy number ends with nine digits ‘000062633’ but the company issues policy ending with eight-digit numbers.”The lawyer said told the tribunal, “The policy with end digits ‘00062633’ was issued to another vehicle for the period July 29, 2008 to July 28, 2009.”
The applicants—the parents—submitted that the insurance company had not sent a notice to the owner or the driver of the offending vehicle, and no criminal complaint was filed by it in respect of the fake policy. Therefore, the evidence adduced by the insurance company be discarded. But the judge observed that not filing a criminal complaint was not a ground to discard the evidence. Also, the insurance company had on record filed that the extract of the policy shows that the offending vehicle was not insured with it for that period. The matter was decided ex parte as the tempo owner did not contest the case.
The judge noted: “I have no hesitation in accepting the contention of the insurance company and to conclude that the certificate-cum-policy schedule filed by applicants on record is a fake one.”
