Muslim daughter can inherit from Hindu father: Gujarat high court

AHMEDABAD: A division bench of Gujarat high court on Wednesday held that a woman, who follows a religion other than Hinduism, is entitled to the inheritance of her Hindu father’s ancestral property, according to the Hindu Succession Act.
A bench of Chief Justice R S Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi upheld an order passed by a single-judge bench to this effect and dismissed an appeal against the order, said advocate Dhruv Dave, who represented the woman, who had converted to Islam and renounced her Hindu faith.

The case involves Naina alias Nasimbanu Firozkhan Pathan from Vemali village in Vadodara. She renounced Hinduism and embraced Islam to marry Firozkhan, a Muslim man, in 1991. Her father Bhikha Patel passed away in 2004, leaving behind certain land parcels in the village. When she staked a claim to the property and applied to enter her name on the list of heirs, her sister and brother opposed it on the ground that she was not eligible to inherit the property because she had converted.

Interestingly, the deputy collector held that the Muslim woman was entitled to inherit the property. But the district collector and state revenue secretary overturned the decision and said that as Naina had embraced Islam, the provisions of the inheritance laws for Hindus could not be applied in her case.

The woman moved the HC, where Justice J B Pardiwala ruled in her favour. Her brother and sister challenged the order before a division bench, which upheld the conclusion and said that the change of religion or loss of caste are no grounds to deny inheritance rights to the Muslim daughter of a Hindu father.

The HC, however, clarified that after Naina alias Nasimbanu, her children are not entitled to claim property as inheritance from her Hindu father. The inheritance rights are limited to her and cease to exist for her children.