Times of India

New Delhi, Apr 15: The Supreme Court has drawn the curtains on a woman’s long fight against her five brothers — from the lower courts till the apex court — to get a share of her father’s landed property on the ground that she was not given any dowry at the time of her marriage over half a century ago. 

Shakuntala argued before the apex court that her father was strongly opposed to the custom of dowry and ardently campaigned against it. “Consequently, at the time of marriage, he did not give anything by way of dowry,” she said and argued that, as an implication, she must have her due share in her father’s properties. 

A Bench comprising Justices A K Mathur and Aftab Alam, after examining the records, found that the property over which she was litigating against her brothers, was bought after her marriage in 1951. 

The brothers argued that the properties were acquired in the name of their father, Captain Sardar Singh, and that the money was paid from the joint Hindu family fund. 

In 1971, one of the sons filed a suit impleading the father and four brothers as defendants seeking a declaration that he and his four brothers were owners of the landed property at Rohtak, Haryana. Capt Singh accepted the claim and a decree was passed in 1982 to the effect that the five sons were exclusive joint owners of the property. 

The father lived for a long time after the decree and, before his death, executed a will leaving the properties to the sons. When Shakuntala questioned the ownership and demanded a share challenging the 1982 decree, the trial court dismissed her plea. Her appeals before the high court were also dismissed. 

After examining the trial court and HC proceedings on the issue, the apex court Bench dismissed her appeal and said: “On going through the judgments and orders of the courts below, the other materials on record and the written submissions submitted by Shakuntala, we, unfortunately, find that there is absolutely no scope for any interference in the matter.”