Supreme Court Recognizes Loss of Domestic Care as Distinct Compensation Head

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N.K. Singh of the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment on June 11, 2026, holding that homemakers are 'nation builders' and that the unpaid domestic work they perform must be independently valued at a minimum of Rs 30,000 per month when calculating compensation for their death or incapacitation in road accidents. The case originated from the death of a woman named Reshma in a motor accident in November 2001 while travelling from Sirsa to Fatehabad; her family received only Rs 2.42 lakh from the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal in 2003, and after years of delays—including a fire that destroyed court records in 2011—the Punjab and Haryana High Court enhanced the amount to Rs 8.43 lakh in December 2024, prompting the family to approach the Supreme Court. The Court declared 'loss of domestic care' an additional head of compensation beyond those already recognised in the Pranay Sethi judgment, and specified that the Rs 30,000 floor would increase by 10% every three years and would be awarded on top of any paid income if the homemaker was also employed. Citing India's 2019 Time Use Survey, the bench noted that women aged 15–59 spend over seven hours daily on unpaid domestic tasks—2.6 times more than men—and that such unpaid care work is estimated to contribute 15–17% of India's GDP while remaining unrecognised in conventional economic measures. The Court also directed that motor accident compensation cases should ordinarily be decided within one year, and expressed hope that Chief Justices of all High Courts would monitor implementation of the principles laid down. The judgment notably limited its quantification framework to the 'quintessential and traditional image' of a woman as homemaker for the purposes of this case, while acknowledging that men can also be homemakers deserving recognition.