1. Most important check with your friend if either/and these two sentence are not there in the claim petition which is right now under challenge ‘loss of dependency’– “loss of love and affection’ as Hon’ble Apex Court has not allowed compensation under these two heads in reference to evolving status of your friend mentioned in the brief and also check if deceased minor son name is also represented in the claim or not.
2. A widow after her remarriage cannot continue as the legal representative of her first husband. There is a cessation of her status as the legal representative of her husband and she suffers a civil death so far as the estate of her first husband is concerned.
3. A widow ceases to be a dependent upon her remarriage.
4. Upon her remarriage, she ceases to be a legal representative for the purpose of S. 110-A The Motor Vehicle Act.
5. If your friend remarried then as widow of the deceased she will be entitled to compensation only for the period during which she remained as deceased widow till the date of her remarriage.
6. Under S. 2 of the Hindu Widows' Re-marriage Act, 1856, all rights and interests of a widow in her deceased husband's property shall cease upon her remarriage and shall be determined "as if she had then died."
7. By virtue of S. 4(1) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the provisions of above S. 2 of the 1856 Act stand abrogated.
8. By virtue of S. 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, the property of her husband vested in her cannot be divested, i.e., once a widow succeeds to the property of her husband and acquired an absolute right over the same, she would not be divested of that absolute right on her remarriage. But, she would certainly cease to be a legal representative of the first husband on her remarriage.
9. Under S. 22 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, she also ceases to be a dependant and thus if a widow remarries after the death of her husband, her dependency ends.
10. In nutshell a widow is entitled to receive compensation for the death of her husband even after her remarriage, but not a larger share.
11. The above are legal position and now what will happen in the Appeal case is that the Appeal Court will announce that a widow of the deceased who died in the motor accident is entitled for compensation for loss of dependency, loss of consortium and the other items of compensation till she ceases to be the legal representative of her late husband on her remarriage, therefore she cannot be denied compensation completely and it has to be reduced on the basis of the period during which she remained as the widow of the deceased. – This is the case when she gets re-married / shown by Insurance company as remarried is what the question is yours.
12. Then the compensation will be awarded keeping in view the age of the first claimant (widow friend of yours), the period during which they led the marital life, the period during which she remained as the widow, the mental agony she had undergone due to the sudden demise of her husband and the loss of consortium to her.
13. In my opinion the 25 L which The Tribunal awarded towards total compensation (if she is shown as remarried then) maximum award under Appeal may get decided towards loss of dependency, some miniscule amount will be awarded towards loss of consortium to the widow friend who is probably being shown to be remarried and some miniscule amount will obviously be awarded towards non-pecuniary damages.
14. Finaly now what may happen (in a case if your friend gets remarried) then out of the total amount, the Tribunal may direct payment of close to three forth to the widow friend and some amount to minor son. The reason which I visualize is that since the first claimant i.e. first respondent in Appeal (i.e. your widow friend) is seen to be young widow the Tribunal may prefer to allot more amount to her towards loss of dependency and lesser amount to minor son but most probably your friend is shown to have under gone a second marriage hence Appeal preferred by Insurance company say nearly five years after the accident, she is not entitled for the entire amount i.e. 25 L and it has to be reduced to a reasonable extent. How that reduction happens is shown in next para.
15. Ending above explanations, I would in all openness observe; if she is no more young widow lady i.e. re-marriage chances less may be duw to her age wise then let her opt for her re-marriage as re-marriage does not happen quite often in such cases when a child is also there with the lady and anyhow The Tribunal has awarded quite handsome amount 25 L and if Insurance Company shows (cribs) about her re-marriage status then more or less above law will be stated in decision by Appellate Court and marginal slight reduction in total award will be there and it will be calculated on per day basis from date of widowhood till date of her re-marriage which still comes handsomely as the gap shown here till her re-marriage is good 5 long years. And if in the Application before The Tribunal under S. 166 The Motor Vehicle Act moved by your widow friend included her minor son also as second claimant then minor son will also get some part out of 25 L as adjustment under Appeal and viewing all these it is still a good win win deal is my view instead of advising her to wait for Appeal to be over and then opt re-marriage by that time her age would not favor her most probably but she will still have the money which will remain purely objective situation so re-read how such appeals are more are less disposed of and ask her to take calculated step as lastly I would say her overall decided claim will not get drastically reduced if after 5 years waiting she is re-marrying and everybody knows how many years such Appeal stays in floor of various Courts and waiting for appeal to finally adjudicate and then get re-married is not a good idea as per my view hence such lengthy reply.
