Youth in vegetative state due to accident with barricades, HC asks Police to pay Rs 75L compensation

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Police to pay a compensation of Rs 75 lakh to a youth, who is in a vegetative state after being met with an accident due to the chained barricades kept on a road here.

The high court held the victim was entitled to the claim of damages for the negligence and failure of the Delhi Police to discharge its duty.

Justice Navin Chawla noted that the barricades were neither properly lighted nor adequate reflectors or blinkers were put on them to make them visible from a long distance.

The high court awarded Rs 75 lakh compensation to petitioner Dheeraj Kumar, who was 21 years old at the time of the incident in December 2015.

The accident took place on an early December morning in West Punjabi Nagar area when Kumar and his father were returning home on a motorcycle and collided with police barricades which were chained together so as to cordon off a road/ street completely.

The victim was admitted at Safdarjung Hospital and after undergoing multiple surgeries and treatment, he was discharged in a state of unconsciousness.

The high court was informed that as per the discharge summary record, he was in a state of 'altered sensorium, eye opening to pain, not opening to commands' and since then, his condition has not changed.

The youth and his father approached the high court seeking compensation towards the refund of medical expenses, loss of income/dependency, loss of prospects, continuing future needs as also for the pain and suffering suffered due to the accident.

The high court, in its verdict, said the barricades were chained and therefore, did not allow vehicles to pass through and such chains could not have been visible to the motorist from a distance.

They were also unmanned. Merely because no helmet was shown to have been recovered from the site, cannot lead to a conclusion that the petitioner no.1 (Kumar) was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident or was driving his motorcycle at a high speed or rashly.

It is not disputed that no one was present at the site of the accident at the time of the accident. In any case, the petitioners (Kumar and his father) are held entitled to their claim of damages for the negligence and failure of the respondent no.2 (Delhi Police) to discharge its duty, the high court said