Police not seriously investigates road accidents: MHC

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court (MHC) has opined that the police are not investigating the cases related to road accidents seriously and directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure the filing of the final report in every case within the time granted.

Petitioner Vasanthi moved the MHC seeking to set aside the judgment of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal, Chennai, dismissing her plea, sought to grant compensation for losing her husband's life in a road accident.

The appeal preferred by Vasanthi was heard by a division bench comprising Justice R Subramanian and Justice N Senthilkumar.

According to the petitioner, on February 26, 2009, her husband K Arulappan who was an employee of Madhavaram Milk Dairy, was hit by a lorry near the dairy factory and succumbed to death. However, United India Insurance, the insurance company of the lorry objected to the petitioner's contention of involvement of the lorry and submitted the FIR did not disclose the involvement of the lorry in the accident.

The Tribunal found that the petitioner has not established the fundamental fact as to the involvement of the lorry in the accident. Tribunal refused to go by the FIR and the charge sheet, since it suspected planting of the vehicle. The Tribunal also suspected that the charge sheet, which was not filed into Criminal Court in time, made its way to the Tribunal through the claimants.

After hearing the parties, the bench suo motu impleaded the secretary of the Home department as the final report which was not filed before the Criminal court.

The bench observed that a final report prepared within time is not filed into Criminal Court but, at the same time, a copy of the final report reaches the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in a claim petition, "we suspect a definite collusion between the police and the claimants," observed the bench.

Advocate General (AG) R Shunmugasundaram appeared for the State submitted that the non-forwarding of the final report to the concerned Magistrate is a serious lapse.

"Instructions have been issued to the police officers concerned as to the need for filing the final reports in time" the AG submitted. "As of today, the number of cases in which the FIR is closed on the ground of limitation has drastically reduced", he added.

The bench refused to entertain the claim of the appellant to alter the judgment of the Tribunal, hence the appeal was dismissed. The Court also opined that the compensation awarded by the State for hit-and-run accidents is terribly low and directed the state to have a relook into the scheme.