In the absence of any evidence in a property suit to establish a custom that denied her the right, the Chhattisgarh High Court recently held that a Gond tribal woman was entitled to inherit succession in the property left by her dead husband as per the Hindu Succession Act.
It had been contended that as the parties to the suit were Gond tribals and in their community, widow and daughters are only entitled to get maintenance, the widow had no right over the property as she was not governed by the Hindu Law.
However, it was argued on the woman’s behalf that people from the Gond community follow the Hindu religion and all the rituals are performed through Hindu law therefore, they are governed by the Hindu Law.
Moreover, evidences were placed before the court showing that though the parties to the suit were tribals, they were still continuing with the customary tradition of Hindu customs such as worship of God, phere at the time of marriage, and pinddan at the time of death of family member.
A bench of Justice Narendra Kumar Vyas observed: “Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act only excludes members of the Scheduled Tribe from the application of the Act, however, in the present case, though the parties originally belong to the Gond community, they were Hindus as they followed Hindu traditions.”
Therefore, the court held, “….widow is entitled to inherit succession as per Hindu Succession Act though they are tribals which itself does not oust them from the purview of application of Hindu Succession Act”.
The court held the widow full owner of the suit property and stated that being the full owner, she had the right to succeed the property and consequently to dispose it of according to her convenience.
In the present case, an appeal was filed against the order of the trial court which had decreed the suit for declaration and permanent injunction in favour of one son of the widow. The trial court had held that as the widow was not in possession of the suit property, therefore, the sale deed executed in 2003, in favour of her other son, was not binding upon the plaintiff son.
The trial court had held that being Gond, the parties to the suit were not governed by the Hindu Law and governed by the customs in the matter of succession.
The High Court, however, set aside the order of the trial court while holding that the trial court fell into error in recording the finding that the parties were not governed by Hindu Law.
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