No Child's play

Insurance firm told to cover unborn child

In a landmark judgment recently, the Maharashtra State Commission recognised an unborn child as a consumer.
An unborn child died in a car accident and the Commission ruled that the insurance company would have to pay the insurance money to his grandmother.
Mohanlal Kotecha had taken a comprehensive insurance policy from United India Insurance Company, covering three unnamed passengers and the owner-driver of his Maruti car.
The three passengers were covered for Rs 1 lakh each and the owner-driver for Rs 2 lakh. Mohanlal, his son Atul and Atul’s seven-month pregnant wife Switi died in a car accident and Mohanlal’s wife, Kanta Kotecha, claimed insurance money for the three as well as her unborn grandson.
While officials in the United Insurance Company were unavailable for comment, ICICI Lombard, SBI Life, ICICI Prudential and ING Vysya Life refused to comment on the issue, as “it was now a legal issue”.
Consumer activists have come out in support, however. Consumer Guidance Society of India chairman Anand Patwardhan says: “Murder of a pregnant woman is considered double murder. This means a foetus is considered alive. Then why not in this case?”
Medically, after 20 weeks of pregnancy, the foetus is considered a human being living inside a mother’s womb. The ruling has thrown up questions on what happens in cases of miscarriage or when the unborn child dies even as the mother is alive.