Married daughters also entitled for compensation: Karnataka High Court
Bengaluru(PTI): The Karnataka High Court has held that married daughters are entitled for compensation by insurance companies on the loss of their parents in accidents.
The HC said the Supreme Court has held that married sons are also entitled for compensation in such cases.
"This Court also cannot make any discrimination whether they are married sons or married daughters and hence, the very contention that married daughters of deceased are not entitled for compensation cannot be accepted," it said.
The HC single judge bench of Justice H P Sandesh heard an appeal filed by an insurance company challenging the award of compensation to married daughters of one Renuka (aged 57) who was killed in an accident on April 12, 2012 near Yamanur, Hubballi, in north Karnataka.
Renuka's husband, three daughters and a son had sought compensation. The Motor Accident Claims Tribunal had awarded a compensation of Rs 5,91,600 with six per cent annual interest to the family members.
The insurance company had challenged this in the HC contending that married daughters could not claim compensation, and also that they were not dependents. Therefore, awarding compensation under the head 'loss of dependency' was wrong. It was claimed by the insurer that compensation was to be awarded only under 'loss of estate.'
The HC, however, said that dependency does not only mean financial dependency. Even if the dependency is a relevant criterion to claim compensation for loss dependency, it does not mean financial dependency is the 'ark of the covenant'.
Dependency includes gratuitous service dependency, physical dependency, emotional dependency, and psychological dependency, which can never be equated in terms of the money, it said.
Other contentions of the insurance company including doubts about the age of the deceased, and her income were also rejected by the court. A warranty card for a sewing machine purchased by the deceased came in handy for the Tribunal to calculate her income at Rs 4,500 per month.
The HC rejected the contention of the insurer that exorbitant compensation had been awarded by the Tribunal, and dismissed its appeal.
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Nashik TCS case: Accused Nida Khan held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Nashik (PTI): Weeks after she went into hiding, a female employee of the TCS unit in Nashik, accused in a case related to alleged religious conversion and sexual harassment of some women colleagues, has been arrested, police said.
Nida Khan was held on Thursday in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nashik Police Commissioner Sandeep Karnik said.
Khan is an accused in the Deolali Camp police station crime register number 156/26 here, he said.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Nashik police is probing nine cases of molestation and harassment at the IT major’s Nashik unit.
It had arrested eight persons, including a female operations manager, by registering nine FIRs after allegations of exploitation, attempt of forceful conversion, hurting religious sentiments, molestation and mental harassment of female employees at the TCS unit came to light.
The SIT had launched a search for Khan in different parts of Maharashtra. She is accused of targeting employees in a WhatsApp group, pressuring them to pray and eat non-vegetarian food.
According to the FIR, Khan allegedly advised women employees to dress and behave in accordance with Islamic traditions.
Some complainants have also alleged that they were coerced or pressured into adopting religious practices, including praying, changing dietary habits, and adopting religious symbols.
Besides Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions for sexual harassment and defamation, Khan has also been booked under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, as the complainant belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
On April 18, she had moved the Nashik court seeking anticipatory bail and interim protection from arrest pending the plea hearing, citing her pregnancy. Her anticipatory bail plea was rejected by a court here on May 2.
TCS has clarified that it has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form for a long time, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office have been suspended.
