The Delhi High Court, while giving a big verdict, said that the widowed daughter -in -law after her husband’s death has every right to get maintenance from her father -in -law’s ancestral property. The Delhi High Court clarified that this right will only apply to the ancestral property and not on the property made by the father -in -law.

Actually, this case is related to the petition filed by a woman in the Delhi High Court. Whose husband died in March 2023. The woman filed an application in the court for maintenance, although her father -in -law had already died in December 2021. His petition was dismissed by the Family Court and a single judge. He challenged the order to dismiss the petition filed under sections 19, 21, 22 and 23 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956.

Decision of Delhi High Court

Now a bench of Justice Anil Kshetrapal and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar in the Delhi High Court said that the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956 under Section 19 and 21 of the 1956, the widow daughter-in-law has a legal right to get maintenance from her father-in-law. This responsibility will be limited only to ancestral property. If the father -in -law does not have ancestral property and only has assets acquired by his own earnings, then the widow daughter -in -law does not have any legal right.

‘So that widowed daughter-in-law is not deprived of maintenance’

This responsibility will be applicable to his abandoned property even after the father -in -law’s death. The court said that this law has been made for social welfare so that no widowed daughter-in-law is deprived of maintenance. The court warned that if the narrow interpretation of Section 19 (1) is made, it will be against the intention of Parliament.

The widow of the deceased’s son also included among the dependent persons

The Delhi High Court said that Section 7 of the provision shows the definition of dependent persons, according to which the widow of the deceased’s son is also included. Provided that when she is unable to get maintenance from her husband’s property or her son-daughters or their property, then she will get this right from her father-in-law’s property.