Western Railways has appealed against an order of the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s (MACT) which had enhanced compensation to the parents of a woman who is in a vegetative state since being hit by a WR-owned Innova in 2017 at Marine Drive. The Railways argued that the accident involved contributory negligence on the part of the woman and hence they cannot be held fully liable.
According to the appeal filed before Bombay high court, the victim, Nidhi Rajesh Jethmalani (25), was crossing Marine Drive’s northern plank near Marine Plaza hotel on May 28, 2017, when the pedestrian signal was not green. She was also on her mobile phone. Counsels for Railways GS Hegde and TJ Pandian submitted that their vehicle was moving at 35-40 kmph when the driver attempted to avoid her, ultimately crashing into a divider.
Hedge said the compensation awarded by MACT was on the higher side and the Railways cannot be held entirely responsible for the accident. “At the most it can be contributory negligence on the part of the Railways. The driver of the vehicle tried to save the girl and as a result he crashed into the divider,” said Hegde and Pandian.
In February 2021, MACT, Mumbai, awarded her Rs 69.92 lakh with interest, along with a Rs1.5 crore corpus for future medical expenses. In October 2022, the high court permitted her father to withdraw Rs1.15 crore deposited in court by WR pending appeal. The father later filed an appeal seeking enhanced compensation. He said that Nidhi was on her way to K C College, just down the road, to seek admission in Class 12.
Hearing both appeals, a division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna recently asked the railway minister to sympathetically consider a final settlement of ₹5 crore, calling it a “rarest of rare case.” The court remarked that Nidhi bore the full brunt of the accident, causing severe brain damage.
“The impact of such an unfortunate accident was so horrendous that it has, as good as taken away her life, rendering her in a persistent vegetative state,” the bench observed. Referring to her condition, the judges likened it to the late Aruna Shanbaug, who remained in a similar state for over 40 years. They noted that the suffering of both the victim and her family was “beyond imagination.”
“Money in no manner can compensate such suffering of this young girl and the trauma and pain of her family members,” the court added.
The judges acknowledged the parents’ extensive efforts to provide expensive medical care for their daughter. Considering the “tremendous expenditure” required, the high court deemed the initial compensation “certainly insufficient.”
Calling it a “fit case” for settlement, the court noted that the father had taken a “reasonable stand” by proposing a ₹5 crore settlement, excluding previous payments. It expressed confidence that the Railways would show “magnanimity” in accepting the proposal.
The matter is set for hearing on March 20, with the court stating: “The Cabinet minister for Railways, who in our opinion would graciously consider and sympathise with the gross facts of the case and take a decision, without this being treated as a precedent.”
