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Arpita Chauhan   24 May 2021

Property destroyed in riots

Respected Members,

My Chacha Ji has a Computer equipment shop in Delhi. A local riot took place in the area where his shop was located. The riot people destroyed his shop also and he faced huge losses. Those people are unknown to him.

How can he ask for compensation and from where can he get the compensation?

Is there any legal help that he can get?



Learning

 10 Replies

Sankaranarayanan (Advocate)     24 May 2021

it seems author's imagined query

M V Gupta (Advocate)     24 May 2021

If he has insured the shop and the inventory therein, he can claim from the Insurance company the loss susttained by him, to the extent of insured amount. Otherwise no remedy.

G.L.N. Prasad (Retired employee.)     24 May 2021

If your friend has availed finance, the financier might have obtained a comprehensive policy that covers fire and riot clauses.  Without insurance, he can only expect if any compensation to be declared by his state government if any.   Otherwise, there is no scope for any type of compensation.

Arpita Chauhan   24 May 2021

Thank you so much, Sir.

P. Venu (Advocate)     24 May 2021

In such situation, Government invariably takes a proactive measures to compensate the affected persons partially or fully. If not satisfied, your uncle has the option to approach a court of law. However, such a course of action, to my knowledge, is still untested.

SIVARAMAPRASAD KAPPAGANTU (Retired Manager)     24 May 2021

Your uncle must have insured his shop including the goods in the shop under SRCC Clause ie. Strikes, Riots, and Civil Commotion Clause. If he has the policy, he can file his claim immediately as per the time norms and method of preferring claim as noted therein.If there was no insurance, it shall be difficult to claim damages from anybody, unless the Government after due verification may provide some help. However, it cannot be claimed as a matter of right.

Saura Patil   24 May 2021

Hello Arpita, 

To answer your question, primarily it should be the insurance companies who should pay for the injuries and damages caused by the riots. So if your chacha ji has the shop insured he has nothing to worry about. However, insurance companies are not always obliged to pay for the types of losses incurred in a riot, this depends on the nature of the injuries. For example, some businesses may not have protection against theft. 

But if insurance companies are out of the view, it should be the rioters who should be the next target for seeking recovery of the losses. However, to pursue this course of action, you should be wise enough to contact law enforcement. But as you say your chacha ji didn't know these rioters so this course of action might be a little difficult to implement. 

So moving on to the next option. You might want to consider asking the government for assistance. And another option is to contact some NGO or Private organization that might be working for such causes. 

Hope this helps!

Regards 

Saura Patil

Kishor Mehta (CEO)     24 May 2021

The Insurance company will honour claim only if the 'RIOT' clause was included in the policy.

1 Like

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     24 May 2021

"The claim will be honoured if the damage to your insured shop happened accidently due to riots and is not deliberately inflicted.

When civil unrest, rioting, and looting break out, many business owners and homeowners are justifiably concerned about property damage. Sometimes even peaceful protests can escalate and lead to vandalism and riots, and bad actors frequently take advantage of large-scale gatherings to destroy property, set fires, and/or cause other damage to public and private property.

Standard insurance policies usually cover damage that results from rioting, looting, vandalism, and/or civil commotion. This would include damage caused by rioters as well as damage caused by the reactions of police and civil authorities during a riot.

Many business owners have a businessowners policy (BOP), which combines property, liability, and business interruption coverages. These and virtually all other commercial insurance property policies should cover any damage to a business’ physical structure and its contents resulting from vandalism, rioting, or civil commotion. This usually includes any damage to exteriors, doors, light fixtures, and windows, as well as interior damage and damaged or stolen contents including computers, machinery, office supplies, furniture, etc.

 

sneha jaiswal   28 May 2021

Hello, Greetings of the day!
For the query you posted, I would suggest that: 
Your uncle can claim the damages if he had secured his shop with the Insurance. But not all insurance companies cover this reason, to get the remedy under Insurance. The insurance company will only honour the claim if your policy has the clause of “Riot” in it. Without any insurance, your uncle can only expect the compensation (if any) to be declared by the state government. Otherwise, there is no scope to get the compensation. 
Also, there is another option, where he can approach to settle his grievances. If he wants help, then he can definitely reach NGOs or organisations who are working for this clause. They might help your uncle. The last option is knocking on the door of the court of law to get the remedy, but such a course of action may not help him much.
Hope it helps
Regards,
Sneha Jaiswal
Law Student
 


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