After 8 years, Bombay High Court approves Rs 62 lakh compensation for Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies employee’s family; DEETS

Trigger Warning: The article contains mentions of the death of an individual. 

The Bombay High Court has emphasized that while perfect compensation may be unattainable, fair compensation should always be the standard. The court upheld a compensation of Rs 62 lakh awarded to the family of an employee associated with Shah Rukh Khan's production company, who d*ed following injuries sustained in a hit-and-run incident.

On May 9, a division bench comprising Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna stated that there was no legal flaw or irregularity in the tribunal's November 2020 order and declined to overturn it.

The Bombay High Court noted that the Motor Vehicles Act is intended to serve as a welfare-oriented law and stressed that courts cannot ignore the constitutional right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Citing a Supreme Court precedent, the bench emphasised that while no amount of money can truly replace a lost life, compensation should be granted to fairly address the harm suffered. The court reiterated that achieving perfect compensation may not be possible, but striving for a just and reasonable one must remain the standard.

In this context, the court upheld the award of Rs 62 lakh to the family of Charu Khandal, an animator working with Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, who d*ed after sustaining critical injuries in a hit-and-run incident. The judges said this compensation was the minimum that could be done to deliver justice.

The Bombay High Court described the case as a "tragic and heart-wrenching" account of a young, talented professional whose life was unjustly cut short due to a horrific accident, leading ultimately to her untimely d*ath.

Charu Khandal, an animator who contributed to the VFX of Shah Rukh Khan's film Ra.One, passed away in 2017. Her d*ath came five years after she suffered severe spinal injuries in a 2012 road accident, when a speeding car crashed into the autorickshaw she was travelling in, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down. She was only 28 then and was returning from a celebration party for her team's award win.

Following the accident, her family filed for compensation with the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in June 2014.

However, the insurance provider, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd, contested the ruling, arguing there was no direct connection between Khandal's d*ath and the accident since she d*ed more than four years later. The company also claimed the tribunal had incorrectly assumed her d*ath was caused by her quadriplegia.

The High Court firmly rejected these arguments, clarifying that her d*ath was caused by septicaemia, a condition directly resulting from the trauma of being quadriplegic. The bench also took note of the Rs 18 lakh the family had spent on her medical treatment and care.

The judges stated that assessing every individual bill down to the last rupee in such a case of prolonged suffering and eventual d*ath would be an unfair and overly rigid interpretation of the law. They emphasized that Khandal's condition would have required constant care, including an attendant and physiotherapy, throughout the five years following the accident.

The court criticized the insurance company's attempt to use overly technical reasoning to escape its obligations, stressing that such tactics should not be allowed to prevent a victim's family from receiving rightful compensation.

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