NEW DELHI: A decade after a 12-year old girl met with an accident which led to 100 percent physical disability and left her with the mental age of a nine-month-old for the rest of her life due to brain injuries, the Supreme Court on Wednesday came to her rescue awarding compensation of more than Rs one crore including interest.Kajal, a bright young girl, was travelling on a tractor with her parents on October 18, 2007 when it was hit by a truck. She suffered serious injuries resulting in damage to her brain and was left with a very low IQ besides severe weakness in all her limbs. As per the medical report, her mental age will remain that of a 9-month old child throughout her life. This means while lying on the bed, she will grow with physical and biological attributes of an adult woman, including menstruation etc, but remain a 9-month old child in her mind.Noting that the pain and suffering which Kajal, who has turned 24, has to go through the rest of her life, a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta said this is a case where departure has to made from the normal rules to do justice and assuage her suffering. The court awarded a compensation of Rs 62.27 lakh to her along with interest at the rate of 7.5 percent per annum on that amount since 2007.“This child will remain bed-ridden for life. Her mental age will be that of a nine-month old child. Effectively, while her body grows, she will remain a small baby. We are dealing with a girl who will physically become a woman but will mentally remain a 9-month old child. This girl will miss out playing with her friends. She cannot communicate; she cannot enjoy the pleasures of life; she cannot even be amused by watching cartoons or films; she will miss out on the fun of childhood, the excitement of youth; pleasures of a marital life; she cannot have children who she can love let alone grandchildren. She will have no pleasure. Hers is a vegetable existence,” the court said.The court passed the order on an appeal filed by Kajal’s father who approached the SC through advocate Dhruv Gautam challenging the Punjab and Haryan HC order for granting compensation of Rs 25.78 lakh. The bench agreed with his submission and enhanced the compensation by almost four times.The court granted compensation on different counts of which Rs 21.6 lakh was given for attendant charges as she will be need two attendants for the rest of his life . “We must remember that this little girl is severely suffering from incontinence meaning that she does not have control over her bodily functions like passing urine and faeces. As she grows older, she will not be able to handle her periods. She requires an attendant virtually 24 hours a day. She requires an attendant who though may not be medically trained but must be capable of handling a child who is bed- ridden. She would require an attendant who would ensure that she does not suffer from bed sores,” it said.“It is impossible to equate human suffering and personal deprivation with money. However, this is what the Act enjoins upon the courts to do. The court has to make a judicious attempt to award damages, so as to compensate the claimant for the loss suffered by the victim. On the one hand, the compensation should not be assessed very conservatively, but on the other hand, compensation should also not be assessed in so liberal a fashion so as to make it a bounty to the claimant. The court while assessing the compensation should have regard to the degree of deprivation and the loss caused by such deprivation, ” it said.