NEW DELHI: Citing Manusmriti which says that no mother, father, wife and son deserves to be abandoned and a person who abandons them should be fined, Supreme Court On Tuesday, it was ruled that a daughter-in-law who becomes a widow after the death of her father-in-law is entitled to maintenance from his estate under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956.The confusion arose when it was claimed that a daughter-in-law who became a widow during the father-in-law’s lifetime was entitled to maintenance, but not in the event that she became a widow after his death. The court stated that the division between widowed daughters-in-law based solely on the time of the husband’s death was unreasonable and arbitrary and that she was entitled to maintenance in both cases.Justices Pankaj Mithal and SVN Bhatti said that Section 22 of the Act provides for the maintenance of survivors and imposes on all heirs of the deceased Hindu the obligation to maintain the survivors of the deceased from the estate inherited from the deceased and this includes the daughter-in-law who becomes a widow. It said that the provision provides for the “maintenance of dependents,” including the “widowed daughter-in-law,” from her father-in-law’s estate.“A son or the legal heirs are liable to maintain all dependents from the inherited estate, d “The father-in-law is entitled to the maintenance of his widowed daughter-in-law irrespective of when she became a widow before or after his death,” SC said. “Denial of maintenance to a widowed daughter-in-law… in a narrow or technical interpretation of the law would expose her to poverty and social exclusion…”
