‘Insurance firm liable for hijacked vehicle’

A humanitarian gesture by a truck driver to give a lift on a cold wintry night to strangers, who later stole the truck, cannot be used by the insurance company to deny the vehicle owner’s claim.

A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta said giving lift to persons is not a “fundamental breach of policy” in a vehicle insurance agreement.

“The appellant who is the owner, was not at fault. His driver gave a lift to some passengers. Carrying such passengers may be a breach of the policy, but it cannot be said to be such a fundamental breach as to bring the insurance policy to an end and to terminate it,” Justice Gupta, who authored the judgment, held.

On December 12, 2014, the truck driven by Sanjay Kumar on the National Highway near Karnal was stopped by some persons seeking a lift to Yamuna Nagar. After a while, the hitch-hikers asked Kumar to stop, attacked Kumar and drove away with the vehicle.

The insurance company had successfully pleaded in the lower forums against the claim of the vehicle owner, Manjeet Singh. They had argued that by giving a lift to the passengers, the insurance beneficiary had violated the terms of the policy and the company was not liable.

‘Humanitarian gesture’

“The driver, on a cold wintry night, gave lift to some persons standing on the road. It was a humanitarian gesture. It cannot be said to be such a breach that it nullifies the policy. No doubt, these passengers turned against the driver and stole the truck, but this, the driver could not have foreseen,” the apex top court held. It ordered the company to pay Mr. Singh 75% of the insured amount of ₹7.28 lakh, with 9% interest per annum, along with ₹1 lakh in compensation.