IMPORTANT POINT
Standard of proof in motor vehicles case is not the same as in criminal trial.

JUDGMENT

Ganguly, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Heard learned counsel for the claimant, learned counsel for the insurance company and also the learned counsel for respondent nos.1 and 2, the driver and the owner of the offending vehicle.

3. In this case the claim for compensation filed by the appellants was concurrently denied both by the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal (for short, ‘the Tribunal’) as also by the High Court.

4. The material facts of the case are that on 12th January, 2005 while Surender Kumar, the victim, was going on foot, he was hit by a vehicle from behind as the vehicle was driven rashly and negligently and was also in a high speed. The victim sustained several injuries and was rushed to the hospital and was declared dead. After the said incident the appellants, namely, Kusum Lata, wife of the victim and three of his children, two are minor daughters and one is a minor son, filed a claim petition.

5. When the matter came up before the Tribunal, the Tribunal in its award dated 14.6.2006 framed three issues for adjudication. Of those three issues, since the Tribunal came to a finding against the appellants on the first issue, the other findings of the Tribunal in the second and third issue were, according to Tribunal, of no avail to the appellants. On the first issue the Tribunal came to a finding that the involvement of the offending vehicle being tempo No.HR-34-8010 has not been proved and since on this issue the Tribunal’s finding went against the appellants, no compensation was awarded. On an appeal filed against the said award, the High Court by the impugned judgment dated 21.5.2010 also affirmed the finding of the Tribunal.

6. The main reason why both the Tribunal and the High Court reached their respective findings that vehicle No.HR-34-8010 was not involved in the accident are primarily because of the fact that in the FIR which was lodged by one Ashok Kumar, brother of the victim, neither the number of the vehicle nor the name of the driver was mentioned.

7. Admittedly, the facts were that the brother of the deceased, Ashok Kumar while walking on the road heard some noise and then saw that a white colour tempo had hit his brother and sped away. Immediately, he found that his brother, being seriously injured, was in an urgent need of medical aid and he took him to the hospital. Under such circumstances it may be natural for him not to note the number of the offending vehicle. That may be perfectly consistent with normal human conduct. Therefore, that by itself cannot justify the findings reached by the Tribunal and which have been affirmed by the High Court. In the present case, evidence has come on record from the deposition of one Dheeraj Kumar, who clearly proved the number of the vehicle. The evidence of Dheeraj Kumar is that he was going along with one Ashok Kumar on a scooter to know the condition of one of their relative in Mahendergarh Hospital. As they reached at turning at Mahendergarh road a tempo bearing No. HR-34-8010 of white colour being driven in a rash and negligent manner came from behind and overtook their scooter. Dheeraj Kumar was not driving the scooter. Dheeraj Kumar saw that the tempo hit Surender, the victim, as a result of which he fell down but the tempo did not stop after the accident. However, the evidence of Dheeraj Kumar is that they followed the same and caught the driver. On their asking, the driver disclosed his name as Satbir son of Shri Ram Avtar. Thereafter, they went to Mahendergarh Hospital and on the next day when they were returning, they found police and other persons were present at the spot. Dheeraj Kumar told the name of the driver and gave the number of the tempo to the police. Dheeraj Kumar claims to have seen the incident with his own eyes. When Dheeraj Kumar was cross-examined, he stated that the deceased Surender is not related to him nor was he his neighbour. He was his co-villager. Dheeraj Kumar also told that he knows the driver of the vehicle beari