Right of daughters in father's self-acquired property
In India, different religions have their laws regarding the distribution of property. Muslims have their laws, Hindus have their laws, and Christians have their laws. However, some such laws apply equally to all the country's people.
There are two types of assets:
- Owned Property
- Ancestral property
- Acquired Property: When a person buys an asset by earning money during his lifetime, that property is called self-acquired property.
- Ancestral property: When a person inherits any property by the fourth generation, that property is called ancestral property.
Earlier in our law, there was no such provision, or there was no basis where it could be said that the daughter should have any right to any property. However, since 2005, in the landmark judgment given by the Supreme Court, it has been said that daughters will now have the same amount of ancestral property as a son. Even after this, the question has always remained whether the daughter has the right to any self-acquired property or not. The Supreme Court has clarified that daughters have the right to self-acquired property.
The Supreme Court gave an important decision on 20 January 2022. The Supreme Court said that if a Hindu person dies without making a will, his daughter will be given the right to his self-acquired and other properties.
This is an important decision by the Supreme Court regarding the rights of property in the Hindu Succession Act of Hindu women and widows. In this judgment, the Supreme Court said that if a Hindu person dies without making a will, the daughters will also have a share in his property. Besides this, daughters will be given preference in the property over the children of the deceased father's brother. The property of the deceased father will be divided amongst his children.
Case: Arunachal Gounder v. Ponnuswamy and others 2022
- In this case, the bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari gave this 51-page verdict. The father died in 1949, and he did not bequeath his earned property to any member. At that time, the Madras High Court had given rights over the property of the deceased man residing in the joint family to the sons of the deceased's brother instead of the daughter. The judgment was pronounced against the daughter in the Family Court and High Court. However, when the matter was appealed to the Supreme Court, the verdict was pronounced in favor of the daughter. The daughter's heirs were fighting this case, and with this, they won this case.
What is the Hindu Succession Act?
- The Hindu Succession Act was enacted in 1956, under which women were given rights in property. This law tried to eliminate many contradictions from time to time; according to the law, daughters and sons were given equal rights, and even if the daughter got married, she still had the right over the father's property.
- This law was amended in 2005, under which women have been given the right from birth to ancestral property. Both the son and the daughter were considered to have equal rights on the property of the father. At the same time, after this amendment, daughters were also given the right to take the division in the agricultural land of their fathers. This means that under this law, the daughter has the same right over the father's house as her brother.
Now the Hindu succession law gives the daughters equal rights on the father's property. Before this decision, it was such that if a person did not have a son, then in that condition, the first right on his property would belong to the sons of his brother. However, now with this decision, the Supreme Court has made it clear that if someone dies without writing a will and has no beta, the property will be given to the daughter and not to the deceased's brother. Not only this, but the Supreme Court also said that this arrangement would apply to the person's acquired property and the property received in the ancestral property division.
Further, the Supreme Court has explained in detail the meaning of the Coparcenary, Survivorship, and Inheritance law.
- Law of Participation: The right of participation means that in case of the death of a man in a Hindu joint family, his widowed wife or daughter has no right to his property. Only sons will have right over the father's property. If the deceased has no son, then the sons of his brother will have this right on that property.
- Law of Survival: The heir should be the one who raises the lineage. That is, under this law of survival, a man will be heir to a man. That is because daughters go to their in-laws' houses after marriage. In such a situation, only the sons can have the right over the father's property and not the daughter's.
- Law of Succession: Succession refers to the children of the father, whether sons or daughters. In 2005, the same concept was implemented by amending the Hindu Succession Act so that after the father's death, sons and daughters would have equal rights under the concept of succession, not survivorship.
If the father does not have any son, then the land will be in the right of the daughter:
- The Supreme Court has clarified another position in the order of this case. If the father dies without making a will and the daughter is the father's only child, the daughter will automatically inherit the property.
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