In Brief
Mangla Ram, a motorcycle rider, was severely injured in a road accident with a jeep on 10 February 1990, resulting in amputation of his right leg above the knee. He claimed compensation from the jeep owner, driver, and insurer. The Tribunal found the jeep involved but reduced compensation by half, citing Ram's contributory negligence. The High Court reversed, accepting the defendants' arguments. The Supreme Court restored the Tribunal's core findings on the jeep's involvement and driver negligence, holding the High Court had wrongly applied criminal law standards instead of the civil preponderance-of-probability test. The Court rejected the contributory negligence finding and enhanced compensation to Rs 2,77,792 plus 9% interest from the claim date.
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