Compensation for the Accidental Death of a Housewife: Valuing Unpaid Domestic Work

Compensation in an Accidental Death of House wife. A woman is at once finance minister, CA, chef, dutiful wife & affectionate mother in the family.

An incident was took place in 2009 where a women was died to due to contact with electricity. Husband of died women filed a petition against the Electricity Department before the single bench of Madras High Court which was decreed in favour of the Petitioner and against the Electricity Department. The Honorable Court awarded decree for the compensation of Rs.4 lakh by calculating her monthly income as 3000 per month and using the standard formula. However with aggrieved and dissatisfied with the said decree, the Respondent preferred an appeal against the said decree before the Appellate Court on the ground that the lady who was died of accidental electrocution, was a house wife and she did not have any source of income.

The question was raised before the High Court of Madras that “Is a married, unemployed woman ‘just’ a homemaker??

Interestingly, the Madras HC has rejected the argument of the Electricity Department and, stressing the role that a homemaker plays in a family, said that a woman is at once finance minister, CA, chef, dutiful wife & affectionate mother in the family.

The Divisional bench explained why a women like her are much more than that, said that “She wasn’t only a dutiful wife & an affectionate mother of her two children, but also she was the finance minister of her family, she was the chef, she was the chartered accountant of the family, maintaining the income & expenses. The husband lost the company of his wife, the children lost their mother & her love & affection.”

The actual loss cannot be estimated without taking into account the features of a woman’s life over & beyond the routine. “The loss of personal care & individual attention by the deceased to her siblings, as a mother & as a wife to her husband; are all relevant materials to assess the loss of the services consequent to the death of a housewife,” the bench observed.

The High Court rejected electricity board’s claim that there’s no negligence on its part, noting that it’s the board, not the common man, which had control over the electrical system.