Pune: A motor accident claims tribunal (MACT) has directed the driver, owner and insurer of a tempo to jointly and severally pay Rs30.4 lakh as compensation to the family of a man who died after his motorcycle was hit by the said vehicle on May 9, 2017. The tribunal took an exception to what it called the police’s “insensitive approach” towards the incident and delay in the registration of the FIR .The compensation will be calculated with 7.5% annual interest from the date of the claim petition. “It is unfortunate that one person died and one was injured in the accident, but the spot panchanama was not prepared till May 18, 2017, and the FIR was not registered till May 28, 2017. It shows how the police are insensitive about accidents on public roads,” MACT member Mahendra K Mahajan ruled.The tribunal said the initial report was registered at Haveli police station, but no steps were taken to visit the spot or record statements. The Shikrapur police later took over the matterThe family members of the victim, Rajesh Jadhav, had filed a claim petition and said Jadhav was riding a motorcycle when a tempo lost control on a descending road and dashed into the two-wheeler near Sanaswadi on May 9, 2017. He was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead. The FIR was registered 19 days later.The family alleged that the FIR initially said the vehicle involved was “unknown,” though there were photographs taken at the spot showing the tempo. They said they had to approach senior authorities, including the CM and the state human rights commission, over the delay.The MACT recorded that when the victim’s family approached the police on the night of the accident, their complaint was not registered and the tempo was removed from the spot by the next day.The tribunal noted the gaps in the investigation and said the investigating officer neither probed how the vehicle was removed from the spot nor was any action taken against the driver in that regard. It also noted that the driver and owner did not step into the witness box and the insurer failed to substantiate its claim that the vehicle had been falsely implicated. — Kanwardeep SinghThe tribunal said the initial report was registered at Haveli police station, but no steps were taken to visit the spot or record statements. The Shikrapur police later took over the matter
