Is Death due to Malaria from Mosquito Bite a Death due to Accident? Supreme Court answers

Murali Krishnan March 26 2019

Is death due to malaria occasioned by a mosquito bite in Mozambique a death due to accident. The Supreme Court had the occasion to consider this interesting question in an appeal filed by an Insurance Company against a judgment of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta held that death due to malaria from mosquito bite cannot be considered as death due to an accident in a place like Mozambique.

The insurance policy, in this case, provided cover for deaths due to personal accidents. The insured person died due to malaria which he contracted while working in Mozambique.

The claim by the heirs of the deceased was upheld by the District Forum, State Commission and NCDRC. This resulted in the appeal by the insurance company before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court after hearing the rival submissions and after considering the provisions in the insurance policy, ruled in favour of the insurance company. It held that in a place like Mozambique, death due to malaria from mosquito bite cannot be considered as death due to an accident.

This was because according to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2018, Mozambique, with a population of 29.6 million people, accounts for 5% of cases of malaria globally. Further, one out of three people in Mozambique is afflicted with malaria.

“In a policy of insurance which covers death due to accident, the peril insured against is an accident: an untoward happening or occurrence which is unforeseen and unexpected in the normal course of human events. The death of the insured in the present case was caused by encephalitis malaria. The claim under the policy is founded on the hypothesis that there is an element of uncertainty about whether or when a person would be the victim of a mosquito bite which is a carrier of a vectorborne disease. The submission is that being bitten by a mosquito is an unforeseen eventuality and should be regarded as an accident. We do not agree with this submission.

The insured was based in Mozambique. According to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report 2018, Mozambique, with a population of 29.6 million people, accounts for 5% of cases of malaria globally. It is also on record that one out of three people in Mozambique is afflicted with malaria.”

Hence, the illness of encephalitis malaria through a mosquito bite in Mozambique cannot be considered as an accident. It was neither unexpected nor unforeseen. It was not a peril insured against in the policy of accident insurance.

Hence, the Court ruled that the heirs of the insured person cannot take advantage of a policy of insurance which covers death due to accident.

The Court, therefore, allowed the appeal and set aside the judgment of NCDRC.