Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
The Chhattisgarh High Court ordered the State authorities to pay ₹6.5 lakh compensation for the death of a 7-year-old girl who succumbed to her injuries in 2018 after being attacked by a stray dog.
Justice Parth Prateem Sahu agonised that the untimely and unnatural death of a child cannot be valued or compensated by money, as it is a source of perennial grief, mental agony and trauma for the parents and family. He also mentioned that the agony and suffering of a victim of a dog bite can only be experienced or seen.
The Judge observed that it was evident that the girl had suffered excruciating pain, suffering, mental agony and deprivation of faculties from the dog bite. He referred to a photo which showed the gruesome extent of the injuries and noted that the previous High Court orders were issued to grant compensation to the family of victims of stray dog bites. The girl passed away in April 2018 while undergoing treatment for a stray dog attack, while she was on her way back from school.
The Bench has ordered the State authorities to grant ₹ 6.5 lakh compensation to the family of the child within three months.
Her family’s request for compensation was rejected by a sub-divisional officer, on the ground that there was no provision under the Revenue Book Circulars (RBC) for awarding compensation in stray dog bite cases. The girl’s father moved to High Court for relief – “Keeping in mind above decisions as also considering all the aspects of the matter, particularly that it is not in dispute that daughter of petitioner died due to complications of a stray dog bite, I deem it fit to award a sum of Rs.6,50,000/- as ex gratia / compensation to the petitioner.”
Advocate Dharmesh Shrivastava represented the father of the child and Government Advocate G Patel represented the State.
Name of the case: Vijay Das Manikpuri v. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors
Bench: Justice Parth Prateem Sahu