Supreme Court Upholds Daughters' Rights in Landmark Adoption Deed Case

The Supreme Court upheld an Allahabad High Court decision discarding a disputed adoption deed, ensuring daughters inherit their father's estate. The court found the deed, lacking the adopting wife's consent, to be a tactical attempt to exclude daughters from inheritance. The court upheld the decision, citing procedural deficiencies and historical delays.

The Supreme Court has upheld a decision by the Allahabad High Court to discard an adoption deed, ensuring the rightful inheritance of a deceased man's estate by his daughters. The adoption deed, filed in 1983, was deemed a calculated move to deny the daughters their inheritance.

Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh noted that the mandatory consent of the wife for the adoption was absent. The court emphasized that this case highlights a common method in rural areas to exclude daughters from inheritance due to improper adoption proceedings.

The decision underscores the importance of procedural integrity in adoption cases and reinforces the legal protections for daughters' inheritance rights. The deed, filed without the adopting wife's consent, was deemed invalid, preserving the daughters' inheritance claims.

(With inputs from agencies.)