Signature in a language which is ordinarily not used by a person does not make the document bogus, the Bombay high court has held while validating a will.
The will in question was of one Smt Melwani, a Sindhi by birth. She had signed it in Gurumukhi, her mother tongue.
By this will, dated March 20, 1991, she had bequeathed her flat in suburban Bandra to her son, Giridhari Melwani.
Soon thereafer, she passed away. When Giridhari filed probate application in the high court to get the will validated, Veena Giridhari, her daughter-in-law, challenged it.
Veena contended that the flat in Bandra had been purchased from the funds given by her late husband Chandru, and the will was a bogus document, made to usurp the flat.
Apart from alleging that her mother-in-law was not in a sound state of mind, Veena's lawyer also pointed out that prior to the execution of the will, Smt Giridhari always signed in Urdu.
To prove this, two earlier Vakalat-namas (letters authorising lawyers) and the flat's nomination made by her was produced, all of which bore signatures in Urdu.
However, refuting the contention, justice Roshan Dalvi said in the judgment early this month that this was not too significant, as "since Urdu is a better known language, she could have signed those papers in Urdu language."
"That would not prevent her from signing her own will in Gurumukhi," the judge said, upholding the will.
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