Whether compensation can be denied to the wife of an accident deceased on the ground that she has remarried ?

The answer to this question has been given by the Bombay High Court in one of its decisions.According to the case, the woman's husband Ganesh was going on the pillion of his friend Sakharam's motorcycle.Sakharam and Ganesh were seriously injured when an auto rickshaw which was being driven in a rash and negligent manner hit a motorcycle on a Mumbai Pune road.Ganesh suffered a head injury due to which he died during treatment at the hospital.                                                           Ganesh's three dependents filed a petition before the Motor Vehicle Accident Claim Tribunal, demanding compensation.Motor Accident Claim Tribunal orders compensation to the dependents of deceased Ganesh.The 1 October 2017 order of the tribunal was challenged by IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Company in the High Court.                                  The insurer's argument was that Ganesh's widow, who was one of the three claimants, had remarried during the pendency of the matter before the tribunal, and was therefore not entitled to compensation.The second argument of the insurance company was that it cannot be held liable for compensation as the auto rickshaw did not comply with the law.The auto rickshaw that caused the accident was allowed to ply only in Thane district. The auto rickshaw violated the rules of the insurance policy.                                                      A single judge bench of Justice S.G. Dige, after hearing both the sides, observed that Looking at the records, it is known that at the time of Ganesh's death in the accident, his wife was only 19 years old.Therefore, it should not be expected that in order to get compensation for the death of her husband, she should remain a widow for the rest of her life or till she gets the payment.The Court said that keeping in view the age of the woman and the fact that she was the wife of the deceased at the time of the accident, There is sufficient ground for obtaining compensation from the insurance company.                                                                  The court observed that remarriage cannot be barred to get compensation after the death of the husband.                                                                                 The court also refused to accept the insurance company's argument that the auto rickshaw had violated the law.The court noted that the insurance company has not examined any witnesses to establish that taking the rickshaw outside the jurisdiction of Thane district was in violation of the conditions of the permit and it was in violation of the terms and conditions of the insurance company.                              Remarriage of a widow cannot be a ground for denial of compensation under the Motor Vehicles Act for the death of her husband in a road accident, the bench said while dismissing the plea of ​​the insurance company. Court orders insurance company to pay compensation of Rs 1000000 to three claimants including widow.