mosquito in a cold drink bottle

After spotting a mosquito in a cold drink bottle, Sector 38 (west) resident M K Malhotra knocked on the doors of city's consumer court. Though he won the case in October 2009, he moved state consumer commission seeking enhancement of compensation amount under Consumer Protection Act. He was duly rewarded as the commission raised the amount from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 besides Rs 1,000 against Rs 500 as litigation cost.

In his complaint, Malhotra claimed that he had bought two cold drink bottles, which were produced, bottled, and marketed by Asianlak Health Foods Limited, under the buy-one-get-one scheme on March 28, 2008. Allegedly, when some guests visited his residence, he served them and his own family members black cola from one of the bottles. But immediately after consuming the drink, they complained of giddiness and stomach-ache, Malhotra further alleged.

After three-four days, he got suspicious and examined the other bottle that contained lemon content and saw a foreign object, most likely a mosquito, inside. He lodged a complaint with the retail-chain seller, Six Ten and also brought the matter to the notice of Asianlak Health Foods Limited through e-mails as well as fax but in vain, the complainant added.

Alleging deficiency in service and unfair trade practice, Malhotra knocked on the doors of consumer forum, which accepted his complaint.

Meanwhile, denying the allegations, Asianlak Health Foods Limited claimed that they did not supply any product to sellers and were not its authorized dealers or distributors. The group owner of Six Ten, REI Agro Limited, and Six Ten in their joint written reply stated that Malhotra did not purchase the soft drink bottles from them. They further said they were not connected with the filling up of bottles or quality control and stated that Malhotra had failed to show or prove that the drink consumed by him was spurious or had caused any health hazard to him or his relations.