Eight years after a claim was first filed, the Bombay High Court has upheld a compensation of Rs 62.2 lakh to the family of Charu Khandal - a former animator at Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment.

Khandal, then just 28, sustained severe spinal injuries in a 2012 road accident and remained paralysed until her death nearly five years later, in 2017.

Charu Khandal's family gets 'fair compensation'

The compensation was initially awarded by the Motor Accidents Claim Tribunal (MACT), Mumbai, in November 2020. However, the insurance company involved - Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company Ltd - challenged the tribunal's ruling in the High Court. In its May 9 judgement, a division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna dismissed the insurer's appeal and termed the compensation 'fair and reasonable' given the tragic circumstances of the case. 'Perfect compensation is hardly possible, but fair compensation ought to be the norm. Each case has to be decided on its own facts,' the bench observed.

What happened to Charu?

The accident occurred on March 25, 2012, in Mumbai, when Khandal's auto-rickshaw was hit by a speeding car. She suffered critical cervical spinal cord injuries and was hospitalised at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Although she survived, she remained bedridden and dependent on care until her death on January 17, 2017. Her family reportedly spent over Rs 20 lakh on her treatment and long-term care. The insurance company argued that her death was unrelated to the accident and cited technical deficiencies like the absence of proof for some medical bills. However, the High Court rejected this reasoning. "It would be extremely harsh, excessive, and rather pedantic to assess every single medical bill with mathematical accuracy in such matters of life and death. That is not what the law mandates," it said. Calling the case "rather heart-wrenching and a tragic saga," court stressed, "the least that can be done to serve the ends of justice is to uphold the grant of compensation… to the family of the deceased, who did not deserve the life she went through after the accident, ultimately leading to her death."