Snakebite death costs insurance firm Rs 15 lakh

Ropar, July 19

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The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered an insurance company to pay Rs 15 lakh to a widow, whose husband died due to a snakebite.

The insurance company had earlier rejected the claim on the pretext that neither an FIR related to the death was registered nor the autopsy was conducted.

As per complainant Harcharan Kaur, her husband Rajinder Singh had purchased a Rs 15-lakh Group Personal Accident Insurance Policy on February 3, 2018, with a validity of a year from Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company, now amalgamated with HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company.

Rajinder died of a snakebite on September 21, 2018, at the PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The commission also directed the insurance firm to pay seven per cent annual interest since the date of death. It also awarded Rs 50,000 in compensation and Rs 11,000 in litigation expenses to Harcharan Kaur.

The complainant had also claimed that the FIR was not registered as nobody was to be blamed for the death of her husband and the post-mortem examination was not conducted because of religious beliefs.