Dealing with A Road Accident in India

As I had mentioned in my Trip to Kodaikanal, I met we an accident while going from Bangalore to Kodaikanal around 12:15 in the afternoon.

Mistake was clearly of the bus driver's because he hit me from behind and even driver accepted his mistake. I called Hyundai Servicing people, and described them about damage, They gave me approximate budget of Rs. 35k!!

I told driver either you repair my car or give me the money to repair, or we will have to go to police. I talked to bus owner as well and he was not ready to give more than 5k. So no use, i thought at least I would lodge a complaint and teach him a lesson, very littel i knew that I am going to teach a lesson to myself.

I managed to get Phone number of SP Nammakkal district (thanks to information available on web, and my Friend Ashish in Bangalore). I called him and police was there soon, the inspector was good, and tried for a settlement. But the bus owner was adamant.

So finally I decided to lodge a complaint. And the drama starts here. After basic inquiry police agreed to file an FIR. Suddenly the good inspector left the Police station (not to return till evening) and the Mamo0 (constable) and sub inspector started behaving strangely. They were getting over friendly with the driver and bus conductor, that made me uncomfortable. Later I learned that they got a call from Bus owner and he made them a good "Offer"

First of all, I could not understand Tamil, so I had tough time understanding them. There were few sentences mamoo told me, I remember are "You are a Software engineer and get good money, our government don't give us anything, i just get 10k/month after 15 years of service", "If you are coming to Tamilnadu, you should have learned Tamil", I have felt like alien many time while living in southern part of my own country (India), but never mind "Unity in Diversity" has its own cost. I hope it will improve as we become more "Educated".

Finally they were done with FIR at around 2:40 (yes it took almost 3 hours to register a damn FIR) After that he told me i need to go to RTO for "Motor Vehicle Inspection" (MVI), I told why, they told me they can't release the vehicle until i do that. Only later i learned that it was necessary only to release the Bus & Bus driver. anyway it took goo 1 hour wait before we could start for MVI, they were making sure all the things were "set". Mind you I had my mother sister, my friend, his wife and their 4 months old son. And they were all sitting out roadside, and this very painful.

We first went to court, where they got bail for the driver, and than we went to RTO. RTO inspection got over and than, II asked for RTO report. The mamoo told me i can get it only on Monday, hmm. I told him I will not be available in Namakkal on Monday. Guess what he asked, he told me he can courier me the report if I pay him 2000/- Rs. !!!!

I tried calling SP office again, but every thing was "set" there. The phone operator was not willing to transfer phone, as soon as I started speaking in English, he told me the SP is not available and will not be available till tomorrow.

I knew damage has been done, I learnt a big lesson that day "Don't rely on law and order in India if you are a commoner"

So here are my tips for you, to deal with a road accident:

1. If you register a case, proceedings will be either in the court of accident location or near residence of accused. So no point arguing if you had accident away from your city of residence.
2. On the spot settlement is best, you save time and you get some money. Otherwise both parties waste time, the accused end up giving money to Police, and who know you might also.
3. Even if you want to register a case, FIR is more than enough, RTO MVI inspection not really needed for you, you can take pictures of vehicles, that will help you.
4. And of course if you are in "Alien" country, you are already on disadvantage, so even if you are loosing little, agree for settlement.
   

I wish if i could fight against the system, but at that point my priorities were different, so i choose not to. But If someone is willing, I will provide all the help I can.

BTW, I got my car repaired, total cost was 35k, 25k was paid by insurance company and 10k by me.