The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a kid 49.93 lakh in compensation for a car accident that left him paraplegic when he was five years old.
The boy had lost not only his childhood but also his adult life, according to a bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian. In its decision, the court stated that while money could not reasonably compensate the youngster for his bodily and emotional losses, it was all the court could order to compensate him for his trauma.
In addition to the compensation, the court ordered the insurance company to pay 7.5 percent yearly interest as determined by the Accidents Tribunal. From the date of the tribunal order, interest must be paid. The total payment would be far over 50 lakhs, possibly approaching one crore.
Supreme Court that injury made physical as well as mental loss
“Determining damages in personal injury claims is a difficult task. The psychological and physical harm suffered by the victim cannot be measured in dollars, yet there is no other option to compensate the sufferer than to offer just compensation, according to the Bench.
The boy had filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, contesting a Karnataka High Court ruling awarding compensation of 13.46 lakh instead of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s award of 18.24 lakh.