Civil affairs bureau fights case on vagrant's behalf - and wins
Yantan district court in Zigong, Sichuan province, ruled in favor of the district bureau of civil affairs last week and asked the defendants to pay compensation of 167,382 yuan ($24,000) to a vagrant killed by a taxi.
It was the first case of its kind involving the protection of a vagrant in Sichuan, said Zhang Hong, chief of the publicity and education department of Sichuan provincial higher people's court, in an interview with China Daily.
In July last year, Xie Yuping, who drove a taxi owned by the Zigong Highway Transportation Company, was speeding when he ran over a man lying in the road in Yantan district.
Xie fled the scene but was caught by police, who identified the killed man as a vagrant because of his worn-out clothes.
Over the next few days, police posted notices asking the family of the victim to identify him. But nobody came forward.
The man was cremated on Aug 1 and Xie was sentenced to one-and-a-half years, on probation, by Yantan district court on Monday, following a ruling by the presiding judge, surnamed Fan.
Last December, the Yantan district bureau of civil affairs brought the Zigong Highway Transportation Company, Xie and a Zigong branch of the PICC Property and Casualty Co Ltd to court on behalf of the vagrant, asking them to pay compensation and for the funeral.
The PICC argued the district bureau of civil affairs had no right to bring the case to court, as the bureau was not a relative of the dead.
But Yantan district bureau said a regulation promulgated by the State Council in 2003 ruled that civil affairs departments had the right to provide aid for vagrants, including legal aid, if their rights were infringed upon. The bureau disclosed that aid had been given to more than 1 million vagrants.
The court ruled in favor of the bureau, in line with State Council regulations. The PICC and the transportation company were made to pay compensation of 50,000 yuan ($7,000) and 117, 382 yuan, respectively, within 10 days.
The defendants are allowed to appeal to Zigong municipal intermediate court for a retrial within 15 days.
Although the country has no law pertaining to legal aid for anonymous vagrants who die in traffic accidents, the court's ruling was reasonable, said Xu Hui, a researcher with the Institute of Sociology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
According to Zhang Qing, an official with the Yantan district bureau of civil affairs, the bureau would temporarily keep the money once the case was settled.
It will give the money to the vagrant's family if they turn up. Otherwise, the bureau will invest it in a fund helping the needy, Zhang said.
(China Daily 04/08/2008 page6)
