Father cannot demand return of divorcee daughter’s ‘stridhan’ from her in-laws:
SC WOMAN IS THE SOLE OWNER OF HER ASSET
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesofindia.com
New Delhi : Supreme Court Thursday ruled that a woman is the sole owner of her ‘stridhan’, the gold ornaments and other articles given by her parents at the time of marriage, and said that after divorce, her father has no authority to demand return of those gifts from her erstwhile in-laws. P Veerabhadra Rao’s daughter was married in Dec 1999 and the couple migrated to the US. After 16 years of marriage, the daughter filed for divorce.
A Louis county circuit court in Missouri granted divorce by mutual possessions, material and financial, were settled between the parties through a separation agreement. She remarried in May 2018. Three years later, Rao filed an FIR against his daughter’s erstwhile in-laws in Hyderabad seeking return of her ‘stridhan’.
The erstwhile in-laws unsuccessfully moved Telangana HC for quashing of the FIR. Then they appealed against HC order in SC.
A bench of Justices quashed the case against the in-laws and said the father had no locus standi to seek return of his daughter’s ‘stridhan’ as that belonged solely to her.
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