The main legal point established in the judgment is that deaths caused in furtherance of a felonious act during the use of a motor vehicle are considered accidental deaths under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

G. P. Mittal, J.

1. The sole question raised for determination in the instant Appeal is whether deceased Zamil suffered death in an accident arising out of use of motor vehicle, that is, DTC bus No.DL-1P-9753

2. The facts of the case are not very much in dispute. Joginder Singh, the driver of the DTC bus was driving the bus from ISBT to Anand Vihar. Some passengers boarded the bus from Shastri Park, Seelampur and Bihari Colony. At about 7:00 A.M., the bus reached near Jagat Puri when the driver heard an alarm that money has been removed from the pocket. The driver also noticed that somebody had placed a knife at his neck. Thereafter, the person (who had held the knife on the driver’s neck) commanded the driver to stop the bus. He heard people saying in the rear of the bus that a person had been stabbed. At Karkari Mor (turning), four boys who were armed with knife alighted from the bus. The driver took the bus to Patparganj Bus Depot. A call was made to the police. The police reached the bus depot where driver Joginder Singh made a statement to the IO on the basis of which FIR No.24 was recorded in Police Station Krishna Nagar.

3. Deceased Zamil was removed to SDN hospital where he was declared brought dead. A Claim Petition was filed by the Respondents No.1 to 4 against the Appellant DTC claiming compensation of Rs. 7,50,000/-. During inquiry before the Claims Tribunal the Respondents (the Claimants) tried to set up a case that since the bus was taken to Patparganj Depot instead of nearest hospital deceased Zamil died on account of profuse bleeding from the injuries inflicted by the robbers. The fact that the deceased was not taken to the hospital even after the alleged robbers alighted from the bus is not disputed. In fact, it is an admitted case of the parties and formed part of the FIR lodged by Joginder Singh, the driver of the DTC bus.

4. On appreciation of evidence, the Claims Tribunal while relying on Rita Devi & Ors. v. New India Assurance Company Limited & Anr. 2000 (5) SCC 113 held that this accident had arisen out of use of a motor vehicle. Since it was a Petition under Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (the Act), the Claims Tribunal accepted the deceased’s income as Rs. 40,000/-, deducted one-third towards personal and living expenses and applied the multiplier of 18 as given in the second Schedule to compute the loss of dependency. The Claims Tribunal awarded overall compensation of Rs. 5,10,000/-.

5. It is urged by the learned counsel for the Appellant that in Rita Devi the compensation was awarded as the victim was covered as a workman under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923. Thus, it is urged that the reliance on Rita Devi is misplaced.

6. Mr. Avnish Ahlawat, learned counsel for the Appellant places reliance on the report of House of Lords in AXN & Ors. v. John Worboys (1) Inceptum Insurance Company Limited (2012) EWHC 1730 (QB) decided on 25.06.2012 where a taxi driver used to commit rape and rob unwary female passengers who hired the taxi. A number of Claim Petitions were filed against the insurer of the taxi on the ground that bodily injuries were suffered by the victims arising out of use of vehicle on a road. The House of Lords held that the essential character of the journey in question was the use of the vehicle for a criminal purpose and held that the bodily injuries were not suffered by the Claimants “arising out of the use of the vehicle on a road or other public place within the meaning of RTA 1988, Section 145 (3)(a).” The judgment cited does not support the Appellant’s case. Moreover, the judgment would not be relevant in view of the authoritative pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Rita Devi.

7. In Rita Devi one Dasarath Singh was the driver of an auto rickshaw owned by Lalit Singh. On 22.03.1995 some unknown passengers hired the auto rickshaw from a rickshaw stand. The said auto rickshaw was stolen and dead body of driver Dasarath Singh was recovered by the Appellants on the