Pharez John Abraham (Dead) By Lrs. v. Arul Jothi Sivasubramaniam K. & Ors.
Background
John D. Abraham, a Christian, died intestate in 1964, leaving his wife and four children, including a daughter, Triza Kalyani John, who later converted to Hinduism, married a Hindu man, and died in 1986 without ever having claimed her share of her father's estate during her lifetime. After her death, her husband and children sued for partition, claiming her 1/3rd share in the family property, while two other children of John D. Abraham, who were adopted, also sought their shares. The trial court dismissed the suit, holding the daughter had relinquished her share for Rs. 50,000 and gold ornaments at the time of her marriage/conversion, and that the claim was time-barred, but the High Court reversed this and awarded shares to all parties including the plaintiffs.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court restored the trial court's finding that Triza Kalyani John had, in fact, relinquished her share at the time of her marriage, reasoning that her conduct in never asserting any claim during her 22 remaining years of life strongly supported this, and therefore her heirs (the original plaintiffs) were not entitled to any share. On the separate question of the adopted children, the Court held that Christian law imposes no bar on adoption (unlike some aspects of Hindu law) and that an adopted child steps fully into the shoes of a natural child for inheritance purposes; it also rejected the argument that the adopted children's appeal was not maintainable merely because they had not filed a formal counter-claim, since every co-sharer in a partition suit has a right to claim their share. The Court therefore set aside the plaintiffs' share entirely and re-divided the property into three equal 1/3rd shares among the appellant (original defendant no. 2), the adopted daughter, and the heirs of the adopted son, rather than the four equal 1/4th shares the High Court had ordered.
Lesson Learnt
A person's long silence and conduct during their lifetime (such as never claiming a share they were entitled to) can be used as evidence that they had relinquished that right, and under Christian personal law, legally adopted children inherit on equal footing with biological children, just as a natural-born child would.