A disease caused or transmitted by insect bite/virus in the natural course of events would not be covered by the definition of an accident, the Supreme Court has held.
A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta gave the ruling in a matter related to insurance cover for a bank employee who died due to malaria occasioned by a mosquito bite in Mozambique. The judges, however, said that in case the affliction or bodily condition may be regarded as an accident where its cause or course of transmission is unexpected and unforeseen.
The bench was dealing with an appeal against the National Consumer Commission which rejected the Insurance company’s contention that malaria due to mosquito bite is a disease and not an accident. After hearing the rival submissions and considering the provisions in the insurance policy, ruled in favour of the insurance company and held that in a place like Mozambique, death due to malaria from mosquito bite cannot be considered as death due to an accident
