Hindu widow to be 'full owner' of any property possessed by her: HC

THE RULING CAME IN CONNECTION WITH A DECADES-OLD DISPUTE INVOLVING A NAGPUR-BASED FAMILY

- Karuna Nidhi

In a significant ruling that reinforces the property rights of Hindu widows, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has held that any property received by a Hindu woman either in partition or in lieu of maintenance becomes her absolute property, and not a limited estate.

Justice Rohit W Joshi, in an order dated October 6 but was made public recently, emphasised that a Hindu woman's right to maintenance is not "an empty formality or an illusory claim being conceded as a matter of grace and generosity, but a tangible right against property."