Obligation of a father-in-law towards a widowed daughter-in-law Patna HC

Case: Kalyan Manohar Sah vs Mosmat Rashmi Priya

Patna High Court recently held that a father-in-law has no obligation to maintain a widowed daughter-in-law unless he owns the ancestral property from which she has no share. 

According to Justice Sunil Dutta Mishra, a widowed daughter-in-law can seek maintenance only if she is unable to do so from her own property or the estate of her husband, father, mother, son, or daughter.

As the bench said in its order passed on January 19, A father-in-law is also not required to support his daughter-in-law except when the daughter-in-law has no share in any ancestral property in his possession.

If the father-in-law is unable to support his daughter-in-law from any coparcenary property he owns from which the daughter-in-law has not obtained a share and such obligation(s) cease(s) upon remarriage of the daughter-in-law," the obligation cannot be enforced.

Even though there is no express provision in the statute, a Court authorized to grant substantive relief can also grant it on an interim basis.

On January 9, 2018, the Family Court in Khagaria district ordered a father-in-law to pay his widowed daughter-in-law an amount of Rs 10,000 per month in maintenance. The order of the court was challenged by the father-in-law.

In contrast to the applicant's claim that he lacked the means to pay the fee, the applicant's daughter-in-law claimed that her in-laws earned over 2,000 per month.

A bench noted that the order of the Family Court was passed in accordance with Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). 

Hence, the bench quashed the Family Court's order.