KARACHI: A senior civil judge has directed the owner of a garbage truck and its driver to jointly pay a total of Rs42.7 million in compensation to the legal heirs of a 31-year-old man, who died after his motorcycle was crushed by the dumper truck in North Karachi in 2017.
Initially, the legal heirs of deceased Umar Yaseen had filed a civil suit through their counsel before the Sindh High Court; however, it was later transferred to Senior Civil Judge (South) Sheikh Abbas Mehdi at the stage of final arguments in March in consequent of the Sindh Civil Courts (Amendment) Act, 2025.
The suit had sought compensation under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855, from the defendants, including the owner of the truck — M/s Nisar Jan & Co — its driver and others, over the death of Umar due to the negligence by the defendants.
After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from all sides, the court directed the owner of the truck and its driver to jointly pay Rs42.7 million (Rs42,762,959) in compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased, along with a 10 per cent mark-up from the date of institution of the suit till realisation of the amount.
The court, however, dismissed the suit against the remaining four defendants under the Fatal Accidents Act, 1855.
“It is well established principle that loss of human life cannot be measured in terms of coins, however, the Fatal Accident Act, 1855 was enacted to provide compensation to the bereaved families for loss occasioned by the death of a person caused by actionable wrong. According to the preamble of the Act, 1855, the said law was enacted to provide compensation to families for loss occasioned by the death of a person caused by actionable wrongs since no action or suit was then maintainable in any court against a person who by his wrongful act, neglect or default, may have caused the death of another person, and it was considered expedient that the wrong-doer in such case be made answerable through damages for the injury so caused by him,” the court observed.
According to the counsel for the plaintiffs, on the day of the incident, deceased Umar Yaseen along with his friend, Gayazuddin, was riding a motorcycle in the North Karachi area when truck driver Daniel Masih, driving recklessly and negligently, hit the motorcycle from behind. As a result, Umar was killed while his friend sustained injuries.
Later, a case was registered against the driver under the relevant provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code; however, a court concerned exonerated him from the charges for want of evidence.
“It is well-established that exoneration of defendant No.6 [the driver] from the charge in a criminal case is not of any relevance while determining civil liability of the defendant,” the court noted.
Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2025.