The Supreme Court has delivered a landmark ruling affirming daughters’ independent inheritance rights under the Hindu Succession Act. The Court held that Section 6(5) does not bar daughters from filing suits seeking partition to claim intestate inheritance rights as Class I heirs under Section 8.
A bench of Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Augustine George Masih clarified that the 2005 amendment granting daughters coparcenary rights by birth does not extinguish their pre-existing right to inherit their deceased father’s property when he dies intestate. The Court ruled that a partition executed among sons alone cannot defeat daughters’ succession rights in the father’s share.
The case involved the daughters of B.M. Seenappa, who died intestate in 1985, leaving a widow, three daughters, and four sons. The sons executed an oral partition in 1985 and registered a deed in 2000, excluding the daughters entirely. In 2007, the daughters filed suit claiming a 1/8th share each as Class I heirs.
The Karnataka High Court had dismissed the suit under Order VII Rule 11, accepting that the 2000 partition was protected under Section 6(5), which saves pre-December 20, 2004 partitions from the 2005 amendment’s operation.
The Supreme Court rejected this interpretation, noting Section 6(5) is merely a saving clause, not a jurisdictional bar. The saving clause protects specific past partitions from the 2005 amendment’s retroactive reach but does not extinguish Class I heir rights under Section 8.
The Court emphasized that when a Hindu male dies intestate, leaving female Class I heirs, his share devolves through intestate succession under Section 8, not survivorship. This right exists independently of the 2005 amendment’s coparcenary provisions.
This judgment restores Hindu daughters’ sacred inheritance rights, ensuring equal treatment in parental property.
Sanatana Dharma’s principles of justice vindicate daughters as equal heirs. Follow Dharmic News for updates on Hindu law rulings.
