In a milestone verdict, the Supreme Court of India declared that the daughters of a Hindu father, dying without a will, would be able to inherit the self-acquired and other properties obtained by him—and even get precedence over other members of the family.
The judgement upholds the property rights of Hindu women and widows under the Hindu Succession Act. “If a property of a male Hindu dying intestate (without a will) is a self-acquired property or obtained in the partition of a coparcenary or a family property, the same would devolve by inheritance and not by survivorship, and a daughter of such a male Hindu would be entitled to inherit such property in preference to other collaterals (such as sons/daughters of brothers of deceased father),” a bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari observed.
The bench was discussing women’s right to inherit the self-acquired property of their father but in the absence of any other legal heir.
Justice Murari, in the judgement, wrote: “Right of a widow or daughter to inherit the self-acquired property or share received in the partition of a coparcenary property of a Hindu male dying intestate is well recognized not only under the old customary Hindu Law but also by various judicial pronouncements.”
The verdict read that it was aiming to fix the limitation faced by a Hindu woman in property heritage. “Section 14 (I) converted all limited estates owned by women into absolute estates and the succession of these properties in the absence of a will or testament would take place in consonance with Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956,” the judgement read.
If a Hindu woman passes away without a will, then the property inherited by her from her parent would go to the successor of her father. On the other hand, the property inherited from her husband or father-in-law would go to the heirs of the husband.
“Thus, the impugned judgement and decree dated March 01, 1994, passed by the Trial Court and confirmed by the High Court vide judgment and order dated January 21, 2009, are not liable to be sustained and are hereby set aside,” it concluded.