HC permits father of accident victim in vegetative state to withdraw money pending appeal hearing

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The Bombay High Court has permitted the father of a girl in a vegetative state after a road accident to withdraw Rs 1.15 crore deposited in court by the Western Railways that owned the errant vehicle, pending hearing of the appeal filed in the case.

A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Gauri Godse in an interim order passed on October 6 observed that it cannot view such matters with the "clinical coldness" of a civil suit.

A copy of the order was made available on Tuesday.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the senior section engineering, Signal Construction of the Western Railway that owned the vehicle involved in the accident, challenging a February 2021 order passed by the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal awarding compensation of Rs 69,92,156 to Nidhi Jethmalani.

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"Here human lives are at stake. Futures are at stake; Nidhi's future has been completely extinguished. It is for this reason that we believe that an interim order is not only permissible, but is absolutely necessary," the court said.

The accident took place on May 28, 2017, when Nidhi (17 years old at the time) was crossing the road near Marine Drive in south Mumbai when a car knocked her down.

The victim suffered serious injuries and has been in a vegetative state ever since.

The Railways in its appeal claimed that Nidhi was not on the pedestrian crossing and that she was allegedly using her mobile phone while crossing the road.

The court in its order said it would get into the factual aspects of the case at a later stage.

Advocate Saumen Vidyarthi, appearing for the victim's father, told the court that the original claim for compensation was Rs 2.22 crore and the tribunal's order awarding Rs 69,92,156 was on the lower side.

Vidyarthi informed the court that apart from the compensation awarded, the Railways had deposited Rs 1.50 crore in court, the interest of which was used by the victim's family towards her expenses.

He further told the court that as on date, there is about Rs 1.15 crore still in court.

The bench permitted Nidhi's father to withdraw the balance amount deposited by the Railways in the high court with all accrued interest after obtaining an undertaking from him that he would abide by the final orders of the court in the matter.

The court posted the appeal for hearing on October 17.

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