The ruling by Justice Mridula Bhatkar came in a case where a man of Hindu faith had refused to share his father's self-acquired property with his sister on the grounds that she had converted to Islam.
The Bombay High court has held that a woman, who converts to Islam from having born as a Hindu, does not cease her right to inherit her father's self-acquired property, if the father dies intestate (without making a will). The decision is likely to settle many property feuds under the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.
The ruling by Justice Mridula Bhatkar came in a case where a man of Hindu faith had refused to share his father's self-acquired property with his sister on the grounds that she had converted to Islam. The man said their father didn't leave behind a will, a situation called intestate in legal parlance. To this, Justice Bhatkar said, "The right to inheritance is not a choice but by birth, and in some case by marriage, it is acquired. Therefore, renouncing a particular religion and to get converted is a matter of choice and cannot cease relationships which are established and exist by birth. Therefore, Hindu convert is entitled to his/her father's property, if the father died intestate."
Advocate Subhash Jha, appearing for the brother, had argued that as per Section 2(1)(a) & (b) are inclusionary by which Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh are covered under the Hindu Succession Act and Section 2(1)(c) of the Hindu Succession Act is exclusionary by which Muslim, Christian, Parsis and Jews are excluded. If the act is applied to a Muslim convert, then a convert will get benefit from two laws which is not allowed.
Advocate Chinmay Gupte and Manoj Prajapati appearing for the sister opposed the argument saying that Section 26 of the Hindu Succession Act, states that the convert's descendants are disqualified and there is no mention about disqualification of the converts himself or herself. He further submitted that the respondent is a sister and is entitled to her father's property.
The court, after going through relevant judgments of other HCs and provisions of the Act, held, "For most people in the world, religion is a way of life which regulates a particular lifestyle, beliefs and culture. A person may think by adopting particular way of life and faith, his search of many unknown questions like existence of universe, who he is etc. can be answered (sic). He may think that following a particular religion is a correct path, which may lead to a spiritual journey. Therefore, the constitution of India has guaranteed right to religion as fundamental right and in our secural country, any person is free to embrace and follow any religion as his or her conscious choice. Hence, Hindu converted into other religion is not disqualified to claim the property under Section 26 of the Act."
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