The Supreme Court, while giving an important and historic verdict, said that “Only the woman has the right over Stridhan. After divorce, the woman’s father has no right to ask for those gifts back from her former in-laws.” The Supreme Court clearly said that “Only the woman has the right over the gold jewelry and other items given by the parents at the time of marriage. Without the woman’s permission, the father has no right to ask for Stridhan back from the daughter’s former in-laws.”
The Story
Actually, P Veerbhadra Rao’s daughter got married in December 1999. After marriage, both the husband and wife went to America. After 16 years of their marriage, the daughter applied for divorce. The Louis County Circuit Court in Missouri approved the divorce by mutual consent in February 2016.
Matters related to property and money were resolved by both the parties through mutual agreement. After the divorce, the woman got married again in May 2018. Then after three years of marriage, the woman’s father P Veerabhadra Rao filed an FIR against the daughter’s former in-laws in Hyderabad to return her to Stridhan. After which the woman’s in-laws approached the Telangana High Court to cancel the FIR. But there they were disappointed. The woman’s former in-laws filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the decision of the Telangana High Court.
A bench of Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Karol dismissed the case against the in-laws. The Supreme Court said that “the father has no right to demand his daughter’s Stridhan, because it was completely his own.
Supreme Court’s Verdict
Supreme Court Justice Sanjay Karol said in his decision that “The generally accepted rule, which is judicially recognized, is that ‘the woman has her full right over Stridhan. The court is clear regarding the sole right of the woman to be the sole owner of Stridhan. The husband has no right.
And then it must necessarily be concluded that when the daughter is alive, healthy and fully capable of taking decisions like recovery of her Stridhan, the father too has no right to demand the same.
#SupremeCourtVerdict #StridhanRights #WomensRights #LegalJustice #LandmarkJudgment
