Kohima: The Gauhati High Court's Kohima Bench confirmed a compensation award of Rs 6,45,470 for the family of a passenger killed in a 2005 road incident. Justice Nchumbemo Mozhui dismissed an appeal by New India Assurance Company Ltd on October 22. The case involves a fatal shooting following a crash near Borpathar, Assam.
The trouble started on September 15, 2005. A bus headed to Tuensang hit a Nagaland Government Bolero. Police in the Bolero boarded the bus after the wreck. A passenger suffered a fatal gunshot wound during the encounter. He died later that day at Dimapur Civil Hospital.
The insurer fought the January 6, 2025, award from the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in Dimapur. They claimed the death was a shooting, not a traffic accident. They also argued the bus insurer carried no liability for the Bolero's involvement. The claimants hit back. They argued the insurer lacked standing to challenge the facts without permission under Section 170 of the Motor Vehicles Act.
The court backed the claimants. It ruled the death counted as accidental murder because it happened during the use of a motor vehicle. Justice Mozhui wrote: "In our opinion, if the dominant intention of the act felony is to kill any particular person then such killing is not an accidental murder but is a murder simpliciter, while if the cause of murder nor act of murder was originally not intended and the same was caused in furtherance of any other felonious act then such murder is an accidental murder."
The insurer must now pay the balance within one month. The tribunal previously set an interest rate of 7.5% per annum starting from February 4, 2015. The court authorized the first claimant to withdraw funds held in the High Court registry after verification.
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