Indore: Consumer court directs insurance company to pay 18.25 lakh to family of fire victim

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The consumer court has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 18.25 lakh as compensation to the family of a deceased who died in a fire incident.

The court issued the order on Monday after a five-year-long legal battle and directed the insurance company to pay the amount within a month.

The victim, Dilpreet Singh Narang, owner of a firecracker shop situated at Ranibagh, succumbed to his burns on April 18, 2017, after his shop caught fire.

Narang had taken out two insurance policies with a prominent insurance company and paid a premium of Rs 1 lakh each. He had nominated his father Gurendra Singh Narang as his nominee.

When the family submitted the claim, the insurance company refused to pay saying that a case of suicide was registered against  Dilpreet at the local police station. Life insurance claims are not honoured in case the insured person commits suicide.

However, when police investigation concluded that it was not a case of suicide but an accident, the family again approached the insurance company claiming the insurance amount. This time, the insurance company refused to honour the claim by saying that the fire had occurred due to the victim’s negligence.

The Narang family lodged a case at the district consumer court but it was dismissed. Later, they appealed against the judgement in the State Commission, and it ruled in their favour. The court also asked the company to pay 9 per cent annual interest on the amount and an additional Rs 60,000 for mental agony suffered by the family.