Allowing a PIL, filed by a lawyer on behalf of the wife of the victim W Carnicius Fernando, the bench said, 'There is no indication in the counter affidavit filed by the government that the victim is at fault'.
The Madras high court bench here has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay a compensation of Rs10.07 lakh to the family of a Sri Lankan national, who was shot dead by a warder outside the central prison here in 2007.
A divisison bench, comprising justice V Ramasubramanian and justice D Hariparanthaman, in their order yesterday directed the government to disburse the money through the Sri Lankan High Commission after deducting an ex-gratia of Rs1 lakh already paid.
Allowing a PIL, filed by a lawyer on behalf of the wife of the victim W Carnicius Fernando, the bench said, "There is no indication in the counter affidavit filed by the government that the victim is at fault".
"There is no averment that Fernando, who was the treasurer of the Sri Lankan Fishermen's Association, carried any weapon or he posed any threat to the security or that any of his acts contributed to the incident", the bench said.
The bench said facts showed that an innocent foreign national, who was on a visit with a valid visa had been shot dead by a person on duty in uniform.
Therefore the death of a person on the hands of jail warder who wielded weapon needed to be compensated, the bench said.
Fernando used to visit Tamil Nadu frequently to see Sri Lankan Fishermen detained in prisons here on charges of violating international maritime boundary line.
On one such visit on October 5, 2007, Fernando was shot dead point blank by a prison warder with a self loading rifle, suspecting his movements near the main gate.
An inquiry by a Revenue Divisional Officer revealed that the warder and a few other prison officials were responsible for the incident, the bench said.
Accepting finding of the inquiry on June 24, 2008, the government ordered prosecution of the warder besides departmental proceedings against officials concerned.
Though there was no codified law to decide on the quantum of compensation in cases of this nature, the Fatal Accidents Act-1855 provided clue on the quantum of damage awarded by the courts which said it should be proportionate to the loss resulting in the form of death, the bench said.
Fernando (44) was the owner of several fishing vessels, and left behind his wife and a 13-year-old son. "We have no alternative except presuming that he would have earned Rs1 lakh a month," the bench said.
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