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2016 Mercedes hit-and-run: Tribunal orders ₹1.98 crore compensation to family
Sidharth Sharma was fatally hit by a speeding Mercedes, driven by a 17-year-old minor on August 2016 in Delhi's Civil Lines area.
A Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) ordered an insurance company to pay a compensation of around ₹1.98 crore to victim Sidharth Sharma's parents, in the eight-year-old hit-and-run case involving a 17-year-old minor in Delhi's Civil Lines area, news agency ANI reported.
The Tribunal directed the company to pay ₹1.98 crore, which includes ₹1.21 crore as compensation and ₹77.61 lakh interest, to the victim's parents within 30 days. However, the company has been granted the freedom to recover the amount from the minor's father's company, under which the speeding car had been registered.
Also read | Delhi cops chargesheet father, mother of teen in Mercedes who ran over man
The MACT also considered the fact that Sharma was drawing a monthly salary of ₹25,000 in January 2015 and was pursuing higher studies. Before the tragedy, the victim had got a job offer with a salary of ₹10 lakh per year, ANI reported.
The Tribunal observed that the accused's father Manoj Aggarwal willfully cultivated the illegal behaviour of his son by ignoring the cost of fellow road users. "Instead of preventing his minor son from driving a Mercedes, he chose to ignore the same, which implies tacit consent on his part. The very fact that at the time of the accident, he was at home was all the more reason to stop his son from taking the car from the home for a joy ride," MACT remarked.
The Delhi police chargesheet said that despite the teenager being challenged for driving without a licence and causing a similar accident earlier, his father was careless and did not stop his son from driving, HT had reported.
Sharma died after the speeding Mercedes fatally hit him in Delhi's Civil Lines area on April 4, 2016. The entire incident was recorded in a CCTV camera installed in the area.
He was heading home after buying from a noodle stand. Realising that the car was not slowing down, Sharma tried to evade, but was fatally hit. The vehicle climbed the pavement and halted as its front tyres burst. The accused abandoned the car and escaped with his friends immediately.
A Detailed Accident Report (DAR) filed by the Delhi police said that the vehicle was driven at a very high speed. After being hit, Sharma was thrown 15-20 feet in the air and later died.
