Kemal Pasha, J.

1. Often one can see common crows, fruit bats and such unfortunate birds hanging electrocuted and lying unattended, on power lines. Should that be the fate of human beings, visited with the misfortune of being electrocuted on coming into contact with electrical energy either, through the lines, the posts or towers supplying the lines carrying electrical energy under the control of the licensee? Can the licensee in control of supply management of an extra-hazardous business of supplying electricity, through uninsulated power lines, be permitted, to wriggle out of its strict liability to compensate the kith and kin of the electrocuted? These are the questions that crop up for consideration in this appeal.

2. Appellants are the parents of Sani Varghese (for short, "deceased") who died on 1.8.1990 at the age of 18, as a result of electrocution. According to them, on 25.7.1990, deceased sustained fatal burns when he came into contact with the tower of the 66 KV electric line near the ridge of a paddy field, while he was rushing to his house, when rain started unexpectedly. The boy, initially, admitted in the Medical College Hospital, Thrissur, was subsequently