MA MI Vs. KALLANDER AMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the decree of the High Court at Rangoon reversing the decree of the District Court of Pegu. The suit was brought by the respondent Kallander Ammal, to recover the whole, or in the alternative, a part of the estate of her deceased husband, Sheik Moideen, who died intestate on February 29, 1920.

(2.) In her plaint she claims to be the sole heir of her deceased husband, and alleges that the first defendant, Ma Mi, falsely claims to have been his lawful wife, and that the second defendant, Mohamed Eusoof, falsely claims to be the legitimate son of the deceased Sheik Moideen by one Ma Kin; and that neither of them have any claim to any portion of or interest in the estate of the deceased. Notwithstanding which, as she alleges, the defendants have been withholding the property of the deceased from her. The defendants filed a joint written statement in which they denied that the plaintiff was heir to the estate, and pleaded that prior to his death the deceased divorced the plaintiff according to Mahomedan law, and that the said divorce was communicated to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff thereafter ceased to be the wife of the deceased if she was legally married to him at any time. They also pleaded that as widow and son of the deceased they were his only heirs and legal representatives.

(3.) The District Judge framed four issues of which the second, "Was there a valid divorce between plaintiff and Moideen ?" alone was tried. On this issue the District Judge found that there was ample evidence to prove that the deceased executed a Talaknama or a divorce document about two years before his death in Burma, where he resided, and sent it to his wife in India where she was residing, and he accordingly dismissed the plaintiff's suit.