Children get compensation after 19 years of losing parents in accident

The three adolescents, who had lost their parents in their childhood in an accident with a speeding Maruti van in 1996, have been directed by the motor accident claims tribunal to get a compensation of Rs 20.29 lakhs by the owner and the driver of the vehicle.

The three adolescents, who had lost their parents in their childhood in an accident with a speeding Maruti van in 1996, have been directed by the motor accident claims tribunal to get a compensation of Rs 20.29 lakhs by the owner and the driver of the vehicle.

Simranpreet Kaur, Jaibeer Singh and Prabhbir Singh had lost their parents - 32-year-old father Meharban Singh and 29-year-old mother Kirandeep Kaur in an accident near Devidasspur Chowk, GT Road, Jandiala Guru in Punjab in 1996.

The accidents tribunal presided over by SK Aggarwal, on February 5, held the driver of the van - Jaswinder Singh, resident of Nakodar in Jalandhar district, responsible for the accident that was caused due to his rash and negligent driving.

The tribunal directed him and the owner of the van Satbir Singh, also a resident Nakodar, to also pay an interest at 7.5% from July 1997. The amount is to be paid jointly and severally by the two, who were proceeded ex parte.

Case

Meharban Singh, an auction recorder with market committee, Gehri Mandi, Jandiala Guru, and his wife Kirandeep Kaur, a private-school teacher, were coming from Amritsar to Jandiala Guru on a scooter on September 15, 1996.

At about 9:30 am, when they reached near Devidasspur Chowk on GT Road, Jandiala Guru, a Maruti van, while overtaking another vehicle, bumped into their scooter, overturning it and killing the couple on the spot.

The accident left their three children orphaned.