Daughters have no inheritance rights if fathers died before 1956: Bombay High Court

The judges stressed the need to consider inheritance rights in the context of pre-1956 laws.

The Bombay High Court ruled on Wednesday that daughters have no inheritance rights if their fathers died before the Hindu Succession Act was enacted in 1956.

The ruling came from a bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain in response to a case that has been pending since 2007, stemming from conflicting judgments by two single-judge benches.

The case centered on Yeshwantrao, who died in 1952, leaving behind two wives and three daughters.

The judges stressed the need to consider inheritance rights in the context of pre-1956 laws.

"We had to go back in time to decide whether, during the pre-1956 period, a daughter would have any inheritance rights who had a widow-mother and no one else," said the bench.

The court stated that since the person passed away before the 1956 Act came into force, his estate devolved according to the laws existing at the time of his death, which did not recognise daughters as heirs.