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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 11, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Thursday ruled that a separate "loss of domestic care" column should be added in motor accident claims after the death of homemakers and the unpaid domestic care provided by them should be valued at INR 30,000 per month, with its revision by 10%, cumulatively, every three years. "It is our hope that the word housewife/homemaker, is in future, in recognition of the contributions of the lady of the house, now used as 'Nation Builder'," the court observed.

 

The amount of INR 30,000 is to be taken as a "stand-in" for monthly income in those cases where the homemaker does not have an input into the house in strictly conventional and monetary terms, the court said. Where the homemaker is part of the workforce, the component of loss of domestic care shall be in addition to the monthly income as may be proved before the relevant motor accident claims tribunal or court, it said. Closing a case dating back almost 25 years, the court directed the insurance company to pay Shishu Pal INR 6.3 million as compensation for losing his wife in an accident.

 

The court said women aged between 15 and 59 years spend over seven hours daily on unpaid domestic tasks, compared to less than three hours by men. On an average, women perform 2.6 times more unpaid caregiving or domestic work, even when they are otherwise contributing economically, it noted. This one-sided scenario is probably one of the reasons why the country has low female labour force participation at 31.7%, since the societal framework generally presumes such responsibilities to be automatically falling upon women, it said. Women's unpaid caregiving work is estimated to contribute 15-17% of India's GDP, yet it remains unpaid and unrecognised, the court said.

 

The court arrived at the sum of INR 30,000 noting the homemaker's contribution towards smooth functioning of the household, the loss of maternal support for the children, loss of spousal support for the husband, the support and care of their child who is an adult, and for the parents of the deceased. The court said the homemaker has the dexterous ability to manage all the chores of the household. In modern urban centres of the country it may not be the case that a homemaker stands in front of the gas stove bright and early in the morning or late at night, or walks around, slouched, running a broom throughout the house, but in smaller cities, towns, and villages, even today, such tasks invariably fall on the homemaker, without as much as a second thought, it noted.

 

The bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice N.K. Singh said the homemaker is also the children's first point of contact with the ways of the world, silently and subtly teaching them skills of survival, perseverance, and excellence, shaping them into well-rounded human beings capable of contributing to the country's economy. This is somewhat different from emotional support or dependence for primary skills necessary for everyday functioning that are imbibed by children from their mother, the bench said. This has a distinctly economic angle while also being partly an emotional aspect fitting perfectly into the non-categorisable roles played by homemakers, it said.

 

The husband has no longer the support of his life partner, someone he depends on entirely to run smoothly, an entire part of his life, his home, family, children, relatives, the top court remarked. Even in conservative settings, where patriarchy looms large, the sense of dependency that obtains, if taken away, greatly challenges the man, for he is now directionless and suddenly responsible for a lot more than he is used to, it said. When the efforts of the homemaker towards the husband and children are taken on the whole, it cannot be disputed that although her labour, emotional or physical, is within the four walls of the home, its impact is much wider, the court remarked. In enabling the direct contribution today of their husbands and tomorrow of their children, homemakers are the building blocks for the nation's road to holistic progress, it added. "Any computation made as a result of injury suffered or death, should be aware of this larger role and not be myopic in its view," said the court.

 

The Supreme Court said the impact of the loss of a homemaker, however, is not limited to the husband and children. It also directly impacts the women's own parents who have been deprived of the love and company of their child, who have lost the support and comfort of this person, and are left alone with this boundless grief. Further, the loss is acutely felt by her in-laws who are more often than not members of the same household and therefore dependent on the love, labour, and dedication of this person for food, medicines, doctor's visits, or even for regular company over a cup of tea, it said. Strict arithmetic calculation does not cover any of these scenarios, it added.

 

The case has its genesis from an accident in 2001 where Shishu Pal's wife died on her way to Fatehabad from Sirsa, in Haryana, due to the rash and negligent driving of another person. The tribunal awarded a compensation of only INR 242,000, following which Shishu Pal moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The high court enhanced the compensation to INR 843,400 with 7.5% interest from the date of filing of the claim petition. Seeking more compensation, the husband then moved the Supreme Court.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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