Recently, the single judge bench of Justice CM Joshi held Property of a Hindu woman obtained through a partition deed would not count as “inheritance” for the purposes of Section 15 of the Hindu Succession Act and the husband cannot inherit the property of the deceased wife in this case, as opposed to her family members.

Recently, in Karnataka High Court The petitioner, claimed that after the death of his wife, the property comprising 22 acres of agricultural land should have gone to him. Further, he said his wife’s relatives had occupied the property and obstructed his possession. The property had come to his wife after it was partitioned between her and her siblings.

Earlier, the lower court held that the siblings of the deceased would inherit the property, as per Section 15 (2)a of the Hindu Succession Act, which specifies that property inherited by a Hindu woman who dies without leaving a will would devolve to her father’s heirs, provided that the property had been inherited from her parents.

According to Section 15 (2)b, property inherited from the husband’s side would be inherited by the husband or his heirs. Notably, a Supreme Court decision—Om Prakash vs Radha Charan—held that the self-acquired property of the intestate wife would also be inherited by the husband’s heirs.

The High Court Bench took a contrary view and ruled that based on the partition deed and the fact that the property would have passed into absolute ownership of the wife after partition, it would not be considered an inheritance.

Thus, the petitioner would be the heir. The court also restrained the woman’s family members from interfering with his possession of the property.