SBI penalised for sending bills to man despite credit card's expiry
New Delhi, May 25: A Delhi consumer forum has directed the SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. to pay Rs 2 lakh to a person here for sending him bill even after his card's expiry and blacklisting him for non-payment of the charges.
The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum comprising its president Monika A Srivastava and members Kiran Kausal and Umesh Kumar Tyagi directed the company to pay the amount to M J Anthony, a former journalist, for "deficiency in providing services".
The forum noted that the company had blacklisted him in the CIBIL system of the wilful defaulters maintained by the RBI, which resulted in the rejection of his applications for credit cards from another bank where he had maintained regular account for nearly two decades.
"This Commission is of the view that the SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. has been deficient in providing services to the complainant and though the damage/loss occasioned to the complainant in terms of credit rating cannot be measured in terms of money yet punitive damage ought to be awarded against OP (opposite party) therefore, OP is directed to compensate the complainant by paying a sum of Rs 2 lakh as compensation within two months from the date of this order failing which the sum payable would be Rs 3 lakh," the forum said.
The forum passed the order on May 20 on Anthony's complaint seeking compensation, claiming that he had requested the company to cancel his card in April 2016 much before its expiry and not to renew it.
He did not use the card for any transaction after April 9, 2016 and had destroyed the card according to rules, he said, adding that no payment was due at that time on the card.
In September, the complainant received a letter from the company about the cancellation of his card, however, the company continued to send bills relating to the card ignoring his protest e-mails, he said.
The bills were to the tune of Rs 2,946 by May 18, 2017 inclusive of late payment charges and penalty, he said.
He stated that in the same letter, the company had warned him to pay the bill otherwise it would "have adverse impact on the credit history as maintained by the credit Bureau and may hamper future credit requirement".
The company further blacklisted him in the CIBIL system of the wilful defaulters maintained by RBI and he had trouble in getting loans or credit card.
During the argument, the company had denied the allegations.
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Actress sexual assault: Court says Prosecution 'miserably' failed to prove conspiracy against Dileep
Kochi (PTI): The prosecution had "miserably" failed to prove the conspiracy charge against Dileep in the sensational 2017 actress sexual assault case, a local court has observed while citing inconsistencies and lack of sufficient evidence against the Malayalam star.
The full judgement of Ernakulam District and Principal Sessions Court Judge Honey M Varghese was released late on Friday, and has revealed the judge also pointing out at unsustainable arguments put forth by the prosecution.
"The prosecution miserably failed to prove the conspiracy between accused No.1 (Pulsar Suni) and accused No.8 (Dileep) in executing the offence against the victim," the court held.
It examined in detail, the prosecution's allegation that Dileep had hired the prime accused to sexually assault the survivor and record visuals, including close-up footage of a gold ring she was wearing, to establish her identity.
On page 1130 of the judgment, under paragraph 703, the court framed the issue as whether the prosecution's contention that NS Sunil (Pulsar Suni) recorded visuals of the gold ring worn by the victim at the time of the occurrence, so as to clearly disclose her identity, was sustainable.
The prosecution contended Dileep and Suni had planned the recording so that the actress' identity would be unmistakable, with the video of the gold ring intended to convince Dileep that the visuals were genuine.
However, the court noted that this contention was not stated in the first charge sheet and was introduced only in the second one.
As part of this claim, a gold ring was seized after the victim produced it before the police.
The court observed that multiple statements of the victim were recorded from February 18, 2017, following the incident, and that she first raised allegations against Dileep only on June 3, 2017.
Even on that day, nothing was mentioned about filming of the ring as claimed by the prosecution, the court said.
The prosecution failed to explain why the victim did not disclose this fact at the earliest available opportunities.
It further noted that although the victim had viewed the sexual assault visuals twice, she did not mention any specific recording of the gold ring on those occasions, which remained unexplained.
The court also examined the approvers' statements.
One approver told the magistrate that Dileep had instructed Pulsar Suni to record the victim's wedding ring.
The court observed that no such wedding ring was available with her at that time.
During the trial, the approver changed his version, the court said.
The Special Public Prosecutor put a leading question to the approver on whether Dileep had instructed the recording of the ring, after which he deposed that the instruction was to record it to prove the victim's identity.
The court observed that the approver changed his account to corroborate the victim's evidence.
When the same question was put to another approver, he repeated the claim during the trial but admitted he had never stated this fact before the investigating officer.
The court noted that the second approver even went to the extent of claiming Dileep had instructed the execution of the crime as the victim's engagement was over.
This showed that the evidence of the second approver regarding the shooting of the ring was untrue, as her engagement had taken place after the crime.
The court further observed that the visuals themselves clearly revealed the victim's identity and that there was no need to capture images of the ring to establish identity.
In paragraph 887, the court examined the alleged motive behind the crime and noted that in the first charge sheet, the prosecution had claimed that accused persons 1 to 6 had kidnapped the victim with the common intention of capturing nude visuals to extort money by threatening to circulate them and there was no mention about Dileep's role in it.
The court also rejected the prosecution's claim that the accused had been planning the assault on Dileep's instructions since 2013, noting that the allegation was not supported by reliable evidence.
It similarly ruled out the claim that Suni attempted to sexually assault the victim in Goa in January 2017, stating that witness statements showed no such misconduct when he served as the driver of the vehicle used by the actress there.
The court also discussed various controversies that followed Dileep's arrest and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution, ultimately finding that the case had not been proved.
Pronouning its verdict on the sensational case on December 8, the court acquitted Dileep and three others.
Later, the court sentenced six accused, including the prime accused Suni, to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment.
The assault on the multilingual actress, after the accused allegedly forced their way into her car and held it under their control for two hours on February 17, 2017, had shocked Kerala.
Pulsar Suni sexually assaulted the actress and video recorded the act with the help of the other convicted persons in the moving car.
