Mumbai: Bombay High Court Upholds Rs 62 Lakh Compensation for Family of SRK’s Production House Employee Killed After Hit-and-Run

Mumbai, 12th May 2025: The Bombay High Court has upheld a Rs 62 lakh compensation award to the family of Charu Khandal, a 28-year-old animator with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, who died in 2017 after suffering paralysis from a hit-and-run accident in 2012. The court dismissed an appeal by Cholamandalam MS General Insurance challenging the compensation, affirming that the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal’s November 2020 order was fair and without irregularity.

Justices Girish Kulkarni and Advait Sethna, delivering the verdict on 9th May, stated, “Perfect compensation is hardly possible, but fair compensation ought to be the norm.” The bench emphasised that the Motor Vehicles Act is a beneficial piece of legislation designed to protect the rights of accident victims and their families, and that the court cannot overlook the fundamental right to live a healthy life with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Khandal, who worked on the VFX for the film “Ra. One,” was returning home from a celebration when a speeding car rammed into her autorickshaw, leaving her paralysed from the neck down due to severe spinal injuries. After five years of battling complications, she succumbed to her injuries in 2017. The court noted that her family had incurred ₹18 lakh in medical expenses and that she required constant care and physiotherapy during those years.

The insurance company argued there was no direct link between the accident and Khandal’s death, citing the four-year gap. However, the court rejected this, stating the cause of death-septicemia-was a direct result of the traumatic quadriplegia sustained in the crash. “It would be extremely harsh, excessive and rather too pedantic an approach in such matters of life and death if we are to assess every single medical bill with mathematical accuracy, which is not what the law would mandate,” the bench observed.

Calling Khandal’s case a “heart-wrenching and tragic saga” of a young, ambitious professional, the court stressed that insurance companies cannot take a hyper-technical view to deprive victims’ families of their legal entitlements. The judgment ensures that the compensation awarded to Khandal’s family stands, providing them with some measure of justice after years of hardship.