M.B. Shah, President—The only question involved in this complaint is-

Whether death caused due to drowning in a swimming pool can be considered to be ‘accidental death’ in terms of the insurance policy, which provides that the Insurance Company will pay to the insured or his legal representative-

“if at any time during the currency of this policy the insured shall sustain any bodily injury resulting solely and directly from accident caused by external, violent and visible means.”

2. In our view, in the present case, the death caused to the insured is an accidental death as it was not natural and that the insured did not intend to die by drowning. Violent means includes any external, impersonal cause, such as drowning or inhalation of gas or even undue exertion on the part of the assured. In such cases, the death is not due to internal cause and that any cause which is not internal must be external. But this does not mean that the injury must be external. This is the law settled in England for the identical terms of insurance policy.

Facts:

3. Late Mr. N. Ramanathan was a partner of S.R. Batliboi & Co., a firm of Chartered Accountants. The firm had obtained a partner’s personal ac