LEKHRAJ KUNWAR Vs. HARPAL SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by Thakurain Lekhraj Kunwar (the plaintiff) from the decree of the High Court of Judicature for the North-Western Provinces of India, dated the 29th of May, 1908, which set aside the decree in the plaintiff s favour of the District Judge of Jaunpur, and dismissed the plaintiff s suit and certain objections which had been filed by her.

(2.) In the suit in which the decree now under appeal was made the plaintiff, who was the widow of Sheopal Singh, claimed proprietary possession of the riasat of Singra Mau in the district of Jaunpur, and mesne profits. The defendants to the suit, who are respondents to this appeal, are Thakur Harpal Singh, a distant cousin in the male line of Sheopal Singh, Shamsher Bahadur Singh, a younger brother of the father of Thakur Harpal Singh, Raghuraj Bahadur Singh and Rampal Singh, minors, sons of Shamsher Bahadur Singh, and Thakurain Janki Kunwar, the widow of Rudarpal Singh, who was a brother of Sheopal Singh and had died without male issue. The last common ancestor of Sheopal Singh and Thakur Harpal Singh was Dammar Singh.

(3.) The District Judge of Jaunpur gave the 1paintiff Thakurain Lekhraj Kunwar a decree for possession as a Hindu widow, and decreed mesne profits. From that decree the defendants, Thakur Harpal Singh and Shamsher Bahadur Singh, on his own behalf and as guardian of his sons Raghuraj Bahadur Singh and Rampal Singh, appealed to the High Court, and in that appeal the plaintiff filed objections to the decree of the District Judge, claiming that she was entitled to a decree for possession of he Singra Mau estate as an absolute owner, and not merely for the estate of a Hindu widow. The defendant, Thakurain Janki Kunwar, did not defend the suit; she claimed no intereste.