Gurgaon: Two years after a KG student was crushed to death by his school bus, his family received Rs 4.25 lakh in compensation. The motor accident claim tribunal in its order justified the low amount, noting that "the deceased was not an earning member of the family", as calculations of damages are based on the monthly earnings and age of the victim.
The incident occurred in 2022 when the school bus dropped the minor in front of his house without waiting for his parents and ran over him while reversing. The bus had neither a conductor nor an attendant, which is a violation of safe school bus policy.
Siddharth ( then 7), the only child of Meena and Gulshan Singh, attended Little Dream World School in Shikohpur. On April 18, 2022, he alighted from the bus no. HR55-AJ-8481 around 1.30pm. Despite regulations requiring a helper to assist young children during pickup and drop-off, the bus had none. The driver drove rashly, resulting in Siddharth being crushed under the school bus.
Upon hearing screams, Siddharth's family rushed outside, but the driver had already fled the scene without providing medical assistance. His father alleged that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving.
An FIR was registered under IPC sections 279 and 304-II at Kherki Daula police station. In July 2022, parents filed a petition before the tribunal, seeking Rs 30 lakh compensation with 18% interest. The petition named driver Krishan Kumar, vehicle owner Manjeet and New India Assurance Co Ltd as respondents.
The driver and owner denied the incident, claiming it was fabricated for compensation. The insurance company contended that the FIR initially named an unknown driver, and they were implicated later through the investigation officer's involvement.
In her Oct 25 order, motor accident claim tribunal judge Mona Singh said that if the case were false, the driver and bus owner could have filed representations to higher authorities challenging their implication, which they failed to do.
On the compensation, the tribunal acknowledged the difficulty in computing awards for non-earning minors. "In the case of death of a child of tender age arising out of the use of a motor vehicle, it becomes a tedious task to compute the compensation awardable, as a child is generally a non-earning individual. Thus, the income of the deceased child is incapable of assessment or estimation," the tribunal said. Given that Siddharth was seven years old and a student at the time of his death, the tribunal ordered a notional income of Rs 15,000 per month and awarded Rs 4.25 lakh as compensation.