Delhi High Court News: The Delhi High Court also clarified that if the father-in-law does not have ancestral property and has property acquired from his own earnings, then the widowed daughter-in-law does not have any legal rights.
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Property Rights: The Delhi High Court, while giving a big decision, said that the daughter-in-law who became a widow after the death of her husband has full right to get maintenance from the ancestral property of her father-in-law. The Delhi High Court clarified that this right will apply only to ancestral property and not to the property built by the father-in-law himself.
Actually, this case is related to a petition filed by a woman in the Delhi High Court. Whose husband died in March 2023. The woman filed an application in the court for maintenance, although her father-in-law had already died in December 2021. The Family Court and the Single Judge had rejected her petition. She had challenged the order dismissing the petition filed under sections 19, 21, 22 and 23 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956.
Delhi High Court’s decision
Now in Delhi High Court, a bench of Justice Anil Khetrapal and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar said that under Section 19 and 21 of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956, a widowed daughter-in-law has a legal right to get maintenance from her father-in-law. This responsibility will be limited only to ancestral property. If the father-in-law does not have ancestral property and only has property acquired from his own earnings, then the widowed daughter-in-law has no legal right.
‘So that the widowed daughter-in-law is not deprived of maintenance’
This obligation will continue to apply to the property left by the father-in-law even after his death. The court said that this law has been made for social welfare so that no widowed daughter-in-law is deprived of maintenance. The court warned that if Section 19(1) is interpreted narrowly, it would be against the intention of Parliament.
The widow of the son of the deceased is also included among the dependent persons
The Delhi High Court said that Section 7 of the provision defines dependent persons, according to which the widow of the son of the deceased is also included among the dependent persons. Provided that when she is unable to get maintenance from her husband’s property or from her sons and daughters or their property, then she will get this right from the property of her father-in-law.
