DEBI MANGAL PRASAD SINGH Vs. MAHADEO PRASAD SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question to be determined in this case is whether immoveable property, obtained by a Hindu widow on partition of the joint family property under the Mitakshara law, is part of her stridhan in the narrow sense of that word, indicating her separate property or peculium which passes on her death to her own heirs; or is merely part of her stridhan in the wider sense in which the word is sometimes used, as indicating any property in which she may have some right of proprietorship.

(2.) The property in question originally belonged to one Gaya Parshad, who, with his three sons, formed a Hindu joint family governed by the Mitakshara law. He died leaving three sons and a widow, Dulhan Sahibzad Kunwari. One of his sons Sheo Partap Singh, died in 1889, leaving a widow and his son, the plaintiff- appellant. In 1894 a partition of the joint family property took place, at the suit of the plaintiff, under the guardianship of his mother, and in that suit the Court apportioned one-fourth share of the family property to Dulhan Sahibzad Kunwari, who remained in possession thereof until her death on the 19th November 1900.

(3.) The plaintiff claims possession of one-third of the property thus held by her, on the ground that it passed, under the Mitakshara law, to the heirs of her husband, of whom he is one.