HC restrains woman from possessing mother-in-law's property

New Delhi, Sept 22: The Delhi High Court has restrained a woman, estranged from her husband, from taking possession of her mother-in-law's house in a posh locality here.

Accepting the plea of 54-year-old widow Kavita Chaudhri, Justice Jayanth Nath passed a decree in her favour as she claimed that the house in question was gifted to her by her father.

The court restrained the daughter-in-law from taking possession of the house, saying, "Defendant no 1 (daughter-in- law) has no right to continue to reside in the suit property or to disturb the possession of the plaintiff's (Chaudhri) property in South Extension."

"There is no merit in the contentions of defendant no 1. Accordingly, a decree is passed in favour of Chaudhri and against defendant No 1, restraining the defendant No 1, her agents, representatives etc. from entering into premises D-32, South Extension Part-II, New Delhi," the court said.

It accepted Chaudhri's argument that she is residing in the premises since childhood. She told the court that her father had executed a will on July 12, 1981, through which the property was given to her. She said the court had on January 12, 1984, granted probate of the will after which she became the exclusive owner of the suit property.

The woman had also argued before the court that her daughter-in-law started claiming right over the property due to matrimonial dispute with her son few months after their marriage in April, 2004. The daughter-in-law had levelled various allegations against her only son and also filed a case before the high court under the Domestic Violence Act against him and family members, according to the widow's plea.

The court rejected the daughter-in-law's contentions and said, "I have examined the contentions of defendant no 1 regarding her alleged rights to stay in the suit property under section 2(s) and 17 of the Domestic Violence Act.

In my view, the said contentions are wholly without any merits...the defendant can claim no rights in the said suit property."

The court also relied upon its previous order in which it had asked the widow's son to pay Rs 45,000 to his estranged wife as maintenance and Rs 30,000 towards her house rent and told her to look for an alternative house to reside once her husband starts paying her the money.

PTI