Hindu widow's limited interest gets automatically enlarged into absolute right, when such property is possessed by her in lieu of inheritance/gift/partition or maintenance whether acquired before or after commencement of 1956 Act by her own skill or exertion or by purchase it was held by her as stridhana as stridhana immediately after commencement of Act - would become full owner

Citation

2022 LiveLaw (SC) 515

AIR online 2022 SC 737

2022 SCC OnLine SC 643

2022 (3) MWN(civil) 227

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

AJAY RASTOGI; BELA M. TRIVEDI, JJ.

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 5894 OF 2019; 18.05.2022

MUNNI DEVI ALIAS NATHI DEVI (DEAD) THR LRS. & ORS.

Versus

RAJENDRA ALIAS LALLU LAL (DEAD) THR LRS. & ORS.

Hindu Succession Act, 1956; Section 14(1) - Where a Hindu widow is found to be 

in exclusive settled legal possession of the HUF property, that itself would create 

a presumption that such property was earmarked for realization of her pre-existing 

right of maintenance, more particularly when the surviving co-parcener did not 

earmark any alternative property for recognizing her pre-existing right of 

maintenance. (Para 20)

Hindu Succession Act, 1956; Section 14(1) - The words "possessed by" used in 

Section 14(1) are of the widest possible amplitude and include the state of owning 

a property, even though the Hindu woman is not in actual or physical possession 

of the same - The possession of the widow, must be under some vestige of a claim, 

right or title, because the section does not contemplate the possession of any rank 

trespasser without any right or title. [Referred to V.Tulasamma and other vs. Sesha 

Reddy(Dead) (1977) 3 SCC 99, Raghubar Singh & Ors vs Gulab Singh & Ors (1998) 6 SCC 314 ] 

(Para 14)

Hindu Law - Hindu woman's right to maintenance is a tangible right against the 

property which flows from the spiritual relationship between the husband and the 

wife. Such right was recognized and enjoined under the Shastric Hindu Law - It 

was not and is not an empty formality or an illusory claim being conceded as a 

matter of grace and generosity.