Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The consumer court slapped a fine of Rs 1,75, 000 on a public sector insurance company with 7 per cent interest from the date of the incident that took place in 2020, along with a compensation of Rs 10,000 for mental agony of the complainant within a period of one month.
The case revolves around a complaint filed by Jeevan Hukumchand Soni (complainant) against the rejection of his claim in a road accident case by the insurer on the ground that he was under the influence of liquor at the time of the accident. Soni had an appropriate insurance for a period of one year from September 2018 to September 2019 and during this time he met with a road accident on July 29, 2019.
He was admitted to a private hospital in the city the next day and underwent treatment for one month. The consumer court ruled that it does not seem appropriate to cancel the insurance claim merely on the basis of apprehension that the accident was caused by the complainant driving under the influence of alcohol.
The medical examination report of the complainant has not been able to bring on record any concrete and reliable evidence to prove that at the time of the accident, the complainant was under the influence of alcohol and was incapable of taking care of himself or driving.
Thus it ruled that the insurance company was deficient in providing service and had rejected the claim unjustly and said that the complainant should be compensated for the mental and physical harm suffered due to the attitude of the insurance company.
