A female Hindu is survived by adopted son, natural born son and illegitimate son. Property devolution and ratio.

The Governing Provision: Entry (a) of Section 15(1)

When a married female Hindu dies intestate, her property devolves first upon the heirs in Entry (a) — that is, her sons, daughters, children of predeceased sons or daughters, and her husband. The crucial question here is: does the word "sons" in Entry (a) cover all three categories of sons in the given problem?

The Natural Born Son

A natural born son of a female Hindu is, without any doubt, an heir under Entry (a). He is the paradigmatic heir whom the provision has always contemplated. Whether the natural son is born from the first husband, a second husband, or even different husbands does not matter — all are her natural sons. As the text of the Act and the notes in Mulla's commentary expressly make clear, the word "sons" in Section 15(1)(a) includes "sons born out of the womb of a female by the same husband or by different husbands." He takes one full share.

The Adopted Son

An adopted son stands fully equal to a natural born son. Section 12 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 unambiguously declares that an adopted child shall be deemed to be the child of the adoptive parent for all purposes from the date of adoption. This legal fiction of birth creates an absolute equation between natural and adoptive parenthood. The notes on Entry (a) under Section 15 confirm: "An adopted son would be included in the expression 'son' used in this Entry, that is if the female intestate was in the position of the adoptive mother." The adopted son, therefore, steps into exactly the same position as the natural born son and is entitled to an equal share.

The Illegitimate Son

Here lies the point of greatest legal interest. When it comes to succession to the property of a male Hindu, the illegitimate son receives nothing — the Act sharply excludes him from the father's estate. But the rule is entirely different when it comes to succession to the property of the mother. This distinction flows from Section 3(1)(j) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, which provides that "illegitimate children shall be deemed to be related to their mother and to one another." The consequence is profound: since an illegitimate child is deemed to be related to his mother, he qualifies as her "son" within the meaning of Entry (a). Mulla's commentary expressly states: "The word sons in clause (a) of section 15(1) includes sons born out of the womb of a female... including illegitimate sons too in view of section 3(j)."

An excellent illustration of this in practice is provided in the textbook authored by Kusum and Poonam Pradhan Saxena. A female Hindu W dies leaving behind her husband H, a living son S, an unmarried daughter D, two children of a predeceased daughter, and an illegitimate son S3. The solution offered is that S3 inherits equally with H, S, and D, each taking one-fifth share — the illegitimate son treated without any distinction from the others in Entry (a).

The Devolution and Shares

When our female Hindu dies leaving behind all three sons — natural born (S₁), adopted (S₂), and illegitimate (S₃) — all three fall squarely within Entry (a) of Section 15(1). No one excludes the other, for they are all simultaneous heirs within the same Entry. Section 16, Rule 1 confirms that heirs included in the same Entry take simultaneously, and Section 19 lays down that two or more heirs succeeding together take the property per capita and as tenants-in-common.

The property, therefore, devolves in equal shares upon all three sons:

It bears emphasis that this result is peculiar to inheritance from the mother. Had the propositus been a male Hindu, the illegitimate son would have received nothing from the father, the adopted son would have inherited equally with the natural son from the father, but the illegitimate son's claim would have been extinguished entirely. It is the proviso to Section 3(1)(j) that creates this asymmetry in favour of the mother-child relationship, making the female Hindu's estate more democratically accessible to all her children regardless of the circumstances of their birth.