Woman hit by court sign awarded Rs 19 lakh

July 9, 2012

new_delhi

New Delhi, July 9: A woman who became mentally disabled after a signboard at the Rohini district court fell on her head has been awarded a compensation of Rs 19 lakh by the Delhi High Court, which brushed aside claims of the defendants that the incident was an "act of God".

The victim, Harinder Kaur, was in the court premises pursuing a dispute against her estranged husband when the 'District Court Rohini' board fell on her from the rooftop, where it was loosely tied.

Justice Vipin Sanghi, in an order released earlier this week, asked the Rohini district court, PWD and MCD to compensate Kaur for their negligence that left her with permanent, 70% mental disability.

The high court also rapped the court administration and other civic agencies for ignoring municipal bylaws in putting up the board. "Facts speak for themselves and tell their own story of negligence, so as to establish a prima facie case against the respondents... The respondents have shifted liability from one to another," Justice Sanghi noted, holding the authorities responsible for the injury.

Kaur's 65-year-old mother had approached HC for compensation through advocate Pankaj Batra, who first argued that the placement of the signboard violated laws. He also placed on record RTI replies that revealed that PWD had failed to take mandatory permission from the MCD commissioner before putting up the board. The petition said the board was installed above a passage in the complex and it fell on Kaur as she was walking into the complex.

Citing Kaur's medical reports, Batra alleged that the injuries had resulted in her being unable to sleep and left her totally disoriented with no possibility of being employed.

After initially passing the blame amongst each other, the Rohini court administration, the PWD and the MCD attributed Kaur's injury to an "act of God" in view of the inclement weather on the day of the incident. They argued that the board fell due to strong winds and rains, and not because of negligence on their part.

But HC brushed aside the explanation saying squalls, duststorms and rain were a regular feature in Delhi. "Negligence is writ large on the part of the respondents. They can't in the garb of inclement weather shirk from their responsibility of complying with provisions of law and taking reasonable precautions so as to keep away all persons from harm," the court added.




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News Network
April 12,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 12: Two police officials have been booked for murder in connection with the alleged custodial death of a theft accused in Bengaluru rural district, police said on Saturday.

A case of murder has been registered against inspector Raghu and sub-inspector Rakesh C for the alleged custodial death of Munikulla on Friday afternoon, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru rural district, Ravi D Channannavar told reporters.

"Yes. A case has been registered and transferred to CID," he said.

Munikulla, a resident of Nadavatti village, was picked up by the police on April 7, his wife Dhanalakshmi told the media on Saturday.

"Policemen took my husband with them. They beat him up and killed him," she said.

Alleging that Munikulla was a victim of police high- handedness, Hoskote MLA Sharath Bachegowda said he had lodged a complaint with the state DGP Praveen Sood demanding a CID inquiry into the case.

An FIR was registered against Munikulla on Friday evening based on a complaint by the cashier of the liquor store, who had claimed that the CCTV footage showed victim's involvement.

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Agencies
July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: The first FIR against Volkswagen and Audi in India for installing cheat devices in their cars to misrepresent emissions has been filed in Noida.

The FIR was filed by Noida resident Aniljit Singh against the top officials of Volkswagen and Audi in India and their headquarters in Germany. These include Rahil Ansari, Brand Director, Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, and Bram Schot, Chairman, Audi AG.

The FIR reviewed by media agency cites forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The complaint has cited the global emissions scandal where VW was found to be installing a cheat device in its cars, in the absence of which, the cars produced 10-40 times emissions beyond the permissible limits.

The complainant said that in 2018 he had purchased seven Audi cars worth crores of rupees. At the time of taking the delivery, the complainant said that he inquired if the cheat devices were installed in India and he was told by the company that they were not, as in India's emission norms were not as stringent and the country being a growing market for Audi, no such device was implanted.

The complaint said that the authorities in India observed that Audi cars' emissions for nitrogen oxide were 5-8 times the permissible limits and after the National Green Tribunal imposed a penalty of Rs 500 crore on VW, the complainant realised that he had been duped of his hard earned money.

He alleged that the accused persons had misrepresented the complainant by forging the documents and devices and caused wrongful gains to themselves and wrongful losses to the complainant. These officials had made wrong records to capture the market, with malafide intent and under a pre-planned conspiracy had induced and defrauded the complainant.

The accused persons are guilty of cheating the customers and have induced the complainant to part with hard earned money for sub-standard cars. The accused are also guilty of forging the documents on which they had sought various clearances.

The complainant has demanded that the allegations may be thoroughly investigated by a senior official.

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News Network
January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: A 20-year-old man set his motorcycle on fire after he was challaned by the traffic police in south Delhi's Greater Kailash area on Wednesday, police said.

Vikas, a resident of Sangam Vihar, was challaned by the traffic police for riding the motorcycle without helmet, a senior police official said.

The traffic police challaned him and impounded the motorcycle, following which Vikas set the bike on fire, the officer said.

A case has been registered and the accused arrested, the officer added.

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