Allahabad High Court: Widowed Daughter-in-Law Can Claim Maintenance from Father-in-Law
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a widowed daughter-in-law is entitled to seek maintenance from her father-in-law if she has no independent source of income.
A division bench of Justice Saumitra Dayal Singh and Justice Donadi Ramesh delivered the judgment while hearing an appeal filed by Shree Rajpati, who challenged the family court’s order directing him to pay ₹3,000 per month as maintenance to his widowed daughter-in-law, Bhuri Devi, from Agra.
The Court observed that in Indian society, it is common for widowed women to live with their parents for various reasons. However, this cannot be seen as a separation from their matrimonial home without reasonable cause. The bench noted that such women cannot be denied financial support if they lack sufficient means to survive.
Bhuri Devi’s husband, a daily wager in the irrigation department, was murdered in 1999. She claimed she had no income and had not remarried, and therefore sought financial assistance from her father-in-law, who owned agricultural land that her husband would have inherited if he were alive.
The father-in-law argued that Bhuri Devi had remarried and was working as a cook in a college. However, the Court dismissed these claims, pointing out that he provided no evidence of her remarriage. It also held that the certificate produced from the college principal was insufficient since it did not confirm her income or salary.
In its order dated August 31, the Court acknowledged that the father-in-law was 70 years old and financially dependent on his sons. Taking this into account, the Court partly allowed his appeal by reducing the maintenance amount from ₹3,000 to ₹1,000 per month.
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