Anushka Sharma-
Published On: November 15, 2021 at 10:25 IST
Supreme Court has decided to hear a Chennai man’s unusual claim that those who lose a limb in a severe car Accident have a shorter life expectancy and therefore be entitled to separate higher Accident Compensation.
A Bench led by Justice K.M. Joseph accepted the Petition filed by V.S. Venkataramanan, represented by Advocate Vipin Nair, who reminded the Apex Court of its own words that the Judiciary should not be “A neutral umpire but an active explorer and seeker of truth.”
The Petition refers to research in the United Kingdom which suggests that “97% of amputees suffer from concomitant conditions. Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular diseases are particularly common”.
A study by the Oxford University Press found that insulin resistance, psychological stress, and patients’ deviant behavior are prevalent in traumatic lower limb amputees.
It also submitted a study by the Department of Psychiatry and Surgery, AIIMS, on the psychological effects of amputation. “It suggests that amputation causes psychological morbidity from 32% to 84% of the cases,” the Petition stated.
Mr. Venkataramanan acknowledged that “Money cannot repair a broken and shattered bodily frame,” but said it was past time for the Law to recognize and recompense Victims like him.
He referred to the Supreme Court’s past judgments which had accepted home truths like “Long expectation of life is connected with earning capacity”.
Invoking the Court’s extraordinary powers to deliver complete Justice under Article 142, he and others like him should be rescued “Whose future is bleak and sheer existence, a huge struggle.”
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