The Supreme Court has ruled that the widowed daughter-in-law has the right to receive maintenance from her father-in-law’s property. This right will be available even if she becomes a widow after the death of her father-in-law. The court has removed an important legal confusion with this decision.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has given a very important decision regarding property. The court has said that even if the daughter-in-law becomes a widow after the death of her father-in-law, she still has the full right to receive maintenance from her father-in-law’s property. Earlier there was confusion that only if the daughter-in-law becomes a widow while her father-in-law is alive, she can take maintenance allowance. But now the Supreme Court has ended this legal dilemma. The court canceled the order of the lower court, which had said that the daughter-in-law who became widow after the death of her father-in-law would not get this right.
Manusmriti also mentioned
A bench of Justices Pankaj Mittal and SVN Bhatti said that a daughter-in-law who is widowed after the death of her father-in-law can get maintenance from her father-in-law’s property under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. The court has removed the ongoing legal confusion regarding this matter. In their decision, the judges also mentioned the things written in Manusmriti and said that the widowed daughter-in-law has this right.
rights of widow daughter-in-law
Earlier it was argued that a widowed daughter-in-law could receive maintenance only if her husband died while her father-in-law was alive. The lawyers had also given the same argument. He said that if the daughter-in-law becomes a widow after the death of her father-in-law, she cannot get maintenance from her father-in-law’s property. But the court did not accept this argument. The judges said that it is wrong and unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of widowhood before or after the death of the father-in-law. He made it clear that whether the father-in-law is alive or not, this right of the widowed daughter-in-law cannot be snatched away.
Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act
The bench also cited Section 22 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956. This section deals with maintenance of dependents of a deceased Hindu person. The court said that all the heirs of the deceased, including the widowed daughter-in-law, are bound to provide maintenance to their dependents from the property of the deceased.