Airport pays for escalator death
2008-02-01 16:01
New Delhi - India's Supreme Court has directed the country's airport authority to pay compensation to the family of a girl who was crushed to death on a faulty escalator, news reports said on Friday.
Seven-year-old Jyotsna Jethani died at the Indira Gandhi international airport in Delhi on December 13 1999, after she was trapped on the escalator.
The court which upheld an earlier verdict of the National Consumer Commission verdict on Thursday ordered that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) pay a compensation of 3.8 million rupees ($96 575), the Times of India daily reported.
The commission in its verdict had held that it was the duty of the AAI to maintain the escalator in a proper condition.
"Not to keep a staff at the escalator to switch it off in case of calamity by itself is deficiency in service," the consumer body had said.
"I am satisfied that justice has been done, although delayed," the girl's grandfather Parmanand Jethani told the Hindustan Times newspaper.
The tragic accident had highlighted the poor state of the Indian airports.
Jethani who had arrived at Delhi from Dubai was killed when the escalator at the arrival lounge ripped open after a passenger's bag got stuck in it.
The girl fell into the hole and was crushed to death as her family and passengers watched in horror, shocked and unable to do anything.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA