The Gauhati High Court has rejected the Indian government’s compensation claim for damage to a defence vehicle that struck a parked oil tanker.
Photographs and a site plan showed the tanker positioned on the far-left side of the highway. The defence driver’s account was inconsistent with the physical evidence. The court also noted that the driver had been charged following an accident causing one death and injuries.
The judgment demonstrates the evidentiary importance of objective accident records. A driver’s explanation cannot outweigh photographs, road geometry and contemporaneous reports where those materials tell a materially different story.
The court declined to attribute contributory negligence to the stationary tanker because the moving vehicle had sufficient opportunity to exercise caution.
