Court rules foetus as adult woman for blood money

The UAE Supreme Court has ruled that the blood money to compensate the death of a foetus in a road accident be calculated as if the newborn would have been a girl baby.

While the blood money compensation for a man is Dh200,000, the amount is Dh100,000 for a woman.

The landmark ruling made on Wednesday was in response to an appeal in a case where a Fujairah woman was hit by a lorry in 2007, reports The National.
While she suffered serious injuries, the baby she was carrying in her womb died.

While upholding the lower court’s verdict that asked the insurance company to pay Dh1.2 million in  damages, the apex court however ruled that the compensation must include Dh100,000 as blood money. The blood money for a foetus dead in a road accident is calculated at 10 per cent of that of an adult woman – which would be Dh10,000.

Some eight months ago, the President of the Federal Supreme Court Dr Abdul Wahab Abdul had called for reforms in the blood money laws to make it same for males and females.

Several experts had argued for parity on the grounds that the traditional justification for lesser compensation for women does not apply in the modern world where members of both sexes are equal.
 

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