Finally, damages after 24 yrs

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court (SC) has upheld a High Court verdict that had ordered a vehicle owner to compensate the victim of a road accident. A full bench headed by Chief Justice M Muzammel Hossain issued the order on Sunday. The High Court (HC) had given the order in a case involving death of Mozammel Hossain Montu, News Editor of the ‘Daily Sangbad’ newspaper, in a road crash more than two decades ago. However, the apex court said it would re-fix the amount of the damages to be paid in its full verdict. Khalilur Rahman argued for the late journalist’s wife Rawshan Aktar while Barrister Fazle Noor Tapash represented the vehicle owner’s company, Bangladesh Beverage Industries Limited (Pepsi Cola). A truck owned by Pepsi Cola had run over Mozammel in Dhaka’s Kakrail on December 3, 1989. He died some days later at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. His wife filed a case, seeking compensation at Dhaka’s 3rd Sub Judge’s Court on January 1, 1991. The trial court, on March 20, 2005 ordered the company to pay around Tk 26 million to the victim’s family. Pepsi Cola moved the HC against the verdict, saying the company could not be held liable for the driver’s mistake. The HC, however, rejected the plea in 2010, saying the company could indeed be asked to pay compensation, and fixed the sum at Tk 20m. The company then appealed against the HC ruling, according to bdnews24.com.