Mumbai: An interior designer’s quick pit stop to answer nature’s call by the roadside, an 80-year-old retired teacher’s return home with a freshly exchanged library book, a 12-year-old boy’s walk back home from school, the routine motorcycle commute of an Aarey slum dweller who had finally helped his family out of poverty and a 19-year-old college student from Dharavi who kept promising his father he would “become somebody”—for several Mumbai families, ordinary moments ended in tragedy under the wheels of speeding BEST buses.Among these fatal incidents, 55-year-old interior designer Hemant Joshi’s death has now resulted in one of the largest compensation orders against the city’s transport undertaking. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal this month directed BEST to pay nearly Rs 5.25 crore to his Mahim-based family.RTI activist Anil Galgali had asked the BEST administration about accidents, loss of life and financial compensation in the past 5 years. The data released to him in last year highlights the scale and financial magnitude of these accidents. Between 2019-2024, through various means, the undertaking has disbursed approximately Rs 42.4 crore in compensation across 494 accident cases involving both fatalities and injuries. The yearly payouts reveal a fluctuating but heavy financial toll: Rs 9.55 crore was paid for 140 cases in 2019-20, followed by Rs 3.4 crore for 77 cases in 2020-21, and Rs 9.45 crore for 99 cases in 2021-22. The compensation figures then peaked in 2022-23, reaching Rs 12.4 crore across 107 cases, before settling at Rs 7.5 crore for 71 cases during 2023-24.Among the cases currently pending against BEST before the tribunal are claims of families of 11 victims including Shivam Budhraj, who died after Sanjay More, a contract BEST bus driver alleged ploughed through a crowd in Kurla in Dec 2024 after allegedly losing control of the vehicle, killing nine persons and injuring 37. Advocate A A Hamdani who represents the injured victims and the families of seven deceased said that they have sought “just compensation”.For families already living on the edge, the death of an earning or aspiring child has meant not only grief but a collapse of hope. In a tiny rented 10-by-12 room tucked away in Dharavi, the absence of Budhraj Kashyap’s eldest son Shivam remains a heavy, palpable presence. The 19-year-old was not just a college student, he was the family’s ticket to a better life, constantly promising his father he would “become somebody”. Today, Kashyap still walks the streets as a hawker, earning barely Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 to feed and educate his two younger boys.“He was our eldest child. He used to tell me he would do some good work, that he would become somebody,” Kashyap said. “He was 19, just starting college.” The accident took place in 2024, when Dec 9 arrives, it will have been two full years. While the family has received relief of around Rs 7 lakh–Rs 2 lakh interim relief from BEST and rest from the state–Kashyap said the process is slow. “We had expected the BEST to settle the claims instead of undergoing a full fledged procedure before the MACT. However, with insurance companies now representing such cases, things sometimes move a lot slower,” a person privy to the claims said.The Joshi family’s plea took eight years for a verdict with claims and counter claims requiring witness testimony. In 2018, Joshi was crossing the Eastern Express Highway service road near Mulund to return to his car after answering nature’s call when a BEST bus, driven rashly and negligently, knocked him down and killed him. BEST, represented by the BMC, argued that Joshi was distracted on his mobile phone and failed to notice the approaching bus. The tribunal rejected the defence, relying on the police investigation, chargesheet and eyewitness testimony of Joshi’s assistant to hold the driver fully negligent.Advocate Tushar Shingte said such victim-blaming defences are common in motor accident claims, but tribunals are not governed by the same strict standard as criminal courts.“The Motor Vehicles Act is a benevolent legislation. It is meant to compensate and protect victims and their families,” Shingte said. “That is why third-party insurance is mandatory. The law prioritises protection of the public over the business interests of insurance companies.”He said the burden of proof before the claims tribunal is significantly lower than in a criminal trial. “In a criminal court, negligence must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. But the tribunal conducts a summary trial, and the evidence is tested on the touchstone of preponderance of probabilities,” he said.According to Shingte, once the involvement of the vehicle is established, the tribunal generally leans in favour of the victim unless the FIR clearly and entirely blames the deceased or injured person. “Unless the FIR explicitly faults the victim, the benefit of doubt goes to the victim and the family,” he said.Joshi’s case reflects a wider crisis on Mumbai’s roads, where routine acts have proved fatal. On June 21, 2023, 80-year-old retired school teacher Aruna Jadye was standing near a footpath after visiting a library and waiting for a route 66 BEST bus. A speeding low-floor bus operated under Evey Transport Pvt Ltd arrived rashly, knocked her down and trapped her underneath. She could be pulled out only after the bus was lifted with a car jack provided by a passing taxi driver. After an FIR was registered against the driver for causing death by negligence, the tribunal awarded Rs 1 lakh in compensation to her son.The danger extends to younger motorists as well. On Feb 8, 2025, 28-year-old IT support executive Arun Kavandar was riding his motorcycle through Aarey Milk Colony wearing a helmet when a speeding BEST bus dashed into him near a bus stop. The collision killed him on the spot. BMC through BEST contested the claim by alleging that Kavandar was speeding and at fault for the crash. However, the civic body failed to produce any evidence or independent witnesses to substantiate the claim that the deceased rider was negligent, while police records indicated the bus driver was driving rashly.Evaluating the police chargesheet against the bus driver alongside the witness testimonies, the tribunal said, “I am satisfied that applicants have duly discharged their burden.” For the loss of Kavandar, the tribunal ordered BMC pay his mother and siblings a compensation of Rs 51.48 lakh.Among the youngest victims was 12-year-old Bandra (E) resident Mohammad Ansari.In Oct 2024, the class six student was fatally struck from behind by a speeding BEST bus at Kherwadi. Mohammad fell and the front tyre of the bus ran over him. He was immediately rushed to V N Desai Hospital in Santacruz by the bus conductor but succumbed to his injuries. While BEST attempted to argue that the boy was pushed by another student, the tribunal rejected this defence, relying on the police charge-sheet filed against the bus driver for rash and negligent driving. His parents were awarded around Rs 17.29 lakh compensation in Feb this year.Between 2019 and 2024, buses were involved in 834 accidents across Mumbai, involving BEST and private contractors with 88 lives lost. BEST had 352 accidents with 51 fatalities while private contractors had 37 fatalities out of 482 accidents. The year 2022-23 and 2023-24 recorded the maximum 21 deaths each.Despite repeated compensation awards, Shingte said large payouts have not translated into meaningful road-safety improvements.“Massive awards have not reduced accidents,” Shingte said and agreed that they are treated as the cost of doing business. “Drivers continue to behave recklessly — entering crowded lanes without caution, tailgating two-wheelers and driving aggressively.”The MACT is currently dealing with a backlog of more than 7,766 pending cases . To reduce litigation, BEST has increasingly turned to Alternative Dispute Resolution.In two separate pleas settled before the Lok Adalat conducted on March 14 this year, claims ranging from Rs 8 lakh to Rs 13 lakh were settled. These claims were pending for only about a year. Similarly a claim of Rs 90 lakh, pending just for a few months was settled before the Lok Adalat conducted on Sept 13, 2025.“Earlier, the corporation had a policy of not settling any claim less than two years old, which only increased interest liability and burdened both victims and the corporation,” he said. He added that this has changed with private insurance companies joining the fray.Internal accountability also appears limited. RTI records show that between 2019-24, only 12 dismissals were recorded in fatal accident cases and 2 in personal injury cases. The most common punishments for drivers involved in fatal crashes were reduction in pay scales or temporary suspensions. Galgali says that this shows the need for more precautions from the administration and employees.
