Bombay High Court Rules: Property Received by Hindu Widow in Partition or Maintenance Is Her Absolute Right
In a landmark judgment reinforcing women’s property rights under Hindu law , the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that any property received by a Hindu widow , either in partition or in lieu of maintenance , shall be treated as her absolute property , not as a limited estate . Justice Rohit W. Joshi , delivering the verdict, emphasized that a Hindu woman’s right to maintenance is a substantive legal entitlement — not “an empty formality or an act of grace,” but a tangible right against property . Case Background: The Bhamburkar Family Dispute The case stems from a decades-old property dispute within the Bhamburkar family of Nagpur . In 1928 , one Balaji Bhamburkar purchased several properties and built a house in 1931 . After his death in 1932 , his estate was divided among his three sons — Harihar, Keshao, and Krushna — and his widow, Laxmibai , through a deed executed on October 26, 1953 . Under this deed, the disputed house was allotted to Laxmibai . Laxmi...