Irked over the missing videos of the marriage rituals of his only son, a Bangalorean man sued a professional photographer for damages while stating that marriage is only a once-in-a-lifetime affair. The consumer court ordered the guilty party to pay Rs 55,000 to compensate for the loss.
The matter was heard by a Bengaluru Rural and Urban 1st Additional District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum in Shantinagar. The consumer forum directed the complainant to find solace in the few pictures and videos that survived.
Dattatraya Bhat, 59, of Gokula Extension in Mathikere had lodged a complaint against Guru Chetan of Pixbricks in NJP Layout.
The complainant, Bhat approached Chetan who runs a professional photography and videography agency which specifically captures weddings. He booked the services for his son’s wedding on April 26, 27, and 28.
They signed a contract under which the photographer was supposed to cover all the rituals including devara karya, haldi, kashiyatre, sangeet, reception, muhurtham, and vadhu parvesha. They signed the contract for a fee of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh was paid in advance.
But when the time came to hand over the videos and photos of the wedding, they only handed over the videos and photos of reception and muhurtham only. The complainant had paid almost 2.3 lakh till that time. The Pixbricks responded to his queries that the laptop in which the footage of the four events was stored had been damaged.
Bhat had approached the consumer forum on March 20,2020. He was representing himself while Pixbricks had hired a lawyer.
The lawyer for Pixbricks submitted that due to unavoidable circumstances, videos and photos of few rituals were lost. It was agreed upon that the agency should give raw footage of the videos and photos of the events free of cost.
The lawyer appearing for the agency argued that it was not mentioned anywhere in the contract about the compensation in terms and conditions. Pixbricks offered to waive off Rs 15,000 from the balance amount that Bhat has to pay to them.
