Consumer panel asks company to pay Rs 2.50L to policy-holder’s widow

Yamunanagar, April 28

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (DCDRC), Yamunanagar, has directed an insurance company to pay Rs 2.50 lakh to the widow of a policy-holder. The commission also awarded Rs 30,000 as punitive damages to her.

On the complaint of a Jagadhri city resident, Rajni, the decision was recently given by a panel headed by DCDRC president Gulab Singh and including Jasvinder Singh and Sarvjeet Kaur.

As per the order, the complainant’s husband Rajesh Kumar was insured by the company. He had bought three insurance policies — policy (Ex R-2) for an assured sum of Rs 1 lakh, policy (Ex R-3) for an assured sum of Rs 50,000 and policy (Ex R-3) for an assured sum of Rs 1 lakh.

Rajesh Kumar met an accident as he was driving a two-wheeler on February 28, 2022, within the jurisdiction of city police station, Jagadhri. He suffered injuries and succumbed to them at the Jagadhri Civil Hospital.

The complainant filed a complaint at DCDRC, alleging that the insurance company was intimated about the death of her husband and asked to release the accidental benefit claim under the policies Ex R-2 to Ex R-4. However, the company paid only the natural death claim and rejected her case of an accidental claim. They issued a repudiation letter on November 22 stating the death occurred due to the head injury after and not due to the accident.