Decide on Rs 5 crore for woman in vegetative state after 2017 crash, HC tells rail mantri | India News
MUMBAI: Bombay high court has sought the railway minister’s decision on paying a final claim settlement of Rs 5cr to a woman, now 25, left in a persistent vegetative state following her May 28, 2017 accident at Marine Drive. Nidhi Jethmalani (then 17) was on her way to KC College when she was knocked down by a car owned by Western Railway.
Terming it a rarest of rare case, Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, on March 6, said “the impact was so horrendous that it has, as good as, taken away her life, rendering her in a persistent vegetative state”. They added: “(If) the photos of this happy and promising girl and the present state in which she lies would bring loads of sorrow, unhappiness to anyone, then what can be the suffering of Nidhi and the state of mind of the parents/family members?”
They were hearing appeals against the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal‘s 2021 order that awarded Nidhi nearly Rs 70 lakh in compensation with interest and a Rs 1.5 crore corpus, whose interest would take care of her future medical and other expenses. WR said the amounts were on the higher side “though the accident was Nidhi’s fault”. Nidhi, through her father, sought enhancement of the amounts. Pending hearing, HC allowed her father to withdraw the amounts.
“In our view, this is a rarest of rare case… We request the officers concerned of the respondent (WR) to take instructions at the highest level of the ministry (railway minister), who in our opinion would graciously consider and sympathise with the gross facts of the case and take a decision, without this being treated as a precedent,” said Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna on March 6.
Nidhi’s advocates, Saumen Vidyarthi and Rushabh Vidyarthi, argued that she suffered the severest form of traumatic brain injury which is irreversible. They drew an analogy of her condition with the late Aruna Shanbaug, who was in a persistent vegetative state for over 41 years. The judges said the brunt of the accident was taken by Nidhi’s head, “resulting in severe damage to the brain, which for a layperson in medicine requires quite a courage to even read the details”. They described “the impact of such an unfortunate incident was so horrendous that it has, as good as, taken away her life, rendering her in a persistent vegetative state”. “(If) the photographs of this happy and promising girl and the present state in which she lies would bring loads of sorrow, unhappiness to anyone, then what can be the suffering of Nidhi and the state of mind of the parents/family members?” they wondered.
The judges noted that “incredibly” Nidhi’s “ever-caring” parents “have taken every effort to provide expensive medical aid for their daughter”. Considering the tremendous expenditure to be incurred, the ordeal of the parent and Nidhi’s suffering, “the award amount, in our opinion, is certainly insufficient to cater to such expenditure”.
Observing that “the proceedings ought not to be adjudicated as this is a fit case which needs to go for settlement”, the judges requested the Vidyarthis and senior advocate G S Hedge and advocate T J Pandian, for WR, to make an attempt for a settlement considering “such a painful nature of the case”. Nidhi’s father offered to settle for Rs 5 crore, excluding the amounts paid earlier.
Adjourning the hearing, the judges were quite sure that “considering the peculiarity of the case… being a gross case of human suffering, the respondents would show magnanimity” to settle the amount as offered on Nidhi’s behalf.
