Delay in police complaint shouldn't affect chances of compensation in accidents: Karnataka HC

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has said that failure on the part of the hospital authorities to intimate the police about an accident should not affect the chances of the claimants getting compensated in motor accident claims.

Justice Chillakur Sumalatha said this while directing the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal at Belagavi to consider afresh the claim petition filed by a couple.

The appeals were filed by Pandurang Shivane, who is in military service, and his wife Mangal. The couple, in separate claim petitions, stated that on February 17, 2013, while they were riding on a motorcycle, another motorcycle knocked them down. A complaint was filed on March 1, 2013 and the police filed a chargesheet.

On September 10, 2014, the tribunal dismissed both the claim petitions, with a finding that there was a delay in giving a complaint to police and that the couple failed to discharge their burden.

Challenging this order, it was argued that the couple was shifted to hospital for treatment after the accident. As they were treated and were attending one another, they could not concentrate on lodging complaints to police immediately.

On the other hand, the counsel for the other vehicle involved in the accident submitted that while the claimants did not choose to give a complaint to police immediately after the accident or soon thereafter, there was neither a communication from the hospital authorities regarding the accident.

The court noted that the wound certificate from the hospital clearly mentioned the ‘Road Traffic Accident’ (RTA). For reasons best known to them, the hospital authorities did not give intimation to the police, the court said.

“One should remember that the law has not fixed any time limit for lodging complaints to police. Whether delay in setting the law into motion is fatal or not depends upon the facts and circumstances of each case. Courts have to look whether the de facto complainant has utilized the time to give wings to his imagination, to wreck vengeance against his opponents, for discussions and deliberations, to settle scores or to prepare grounds for false claim. In case none of these exist and where the delay is due to genuine cause coupled sometimes with inability to approach police immediately, then such delay cannot come in the way of the victim to get justice,” Justice Sumalatha said.