A Hindu male died intestate leaving widow, father, son who converted to Islam, married daughter, other son's widow. Property distribution.

The Heir Profile and the Governing Law

Before distributing shares, we must identify who among the survivors is entitled to inherit and who is not. The persons left behind are:

1. Widow (W) — Class I heir

2. Father (F) — Class II heir (Entry I)

3. Son who converted to Islam (CS) — requires analysis under Section 26

4. Married daughter (D) — Class I heir

5. Other son's widow (SW) — Class I heir (widow of a predeceased son)

The Pivotal Question: Does Conversion Disqualify the Son?

This is the heart of the problem. A common misconception is that a Hindu who converts to another religion loses the right to inherit from his Hindu relatives. The Hindu Succession Act sweeps that misunderstanding away with a decisive statutory declaration. Section 28 of the Act provides that no person shall be disqualified from succeeding to any property on the ground of any disease, defect, deformity, or "save as provided in this Act, on any other ground whatsoever."

The Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850, had already abolished the pre-existing rule that conversion leads to forfeiture of inheritance rights. The legislature confirmed this position in the Hindu Succession Act by protecting the convert himself from any disability. Section 26, which deals with converts' descendants, is the disqualifying provision — and it applies only to children born to the convert after his conversion, not to the convert himself.

The position, therefore, is settled: the son who converted to Islam can still inherit his father's property. His conversion does not disqualify him. The Allahabad High Court held in Suresh Darwade v. Arjun Pandey (AIR 2010 Chh 40) that where a son had converted to Islam and claimed the property of his Hindu father on his death as an heir, it was held that his conversion would not adversely affect his rights to inherit. Section 26 is a converse provision — it disqualifies children of the convert born after conversion, but not the convert himself.

The Father's Position

As was discussed in the previous problem, the father occupies the first entry in Class II. The rule under Section 9 is absolute: so long as a single Class I heir is present, the father is entirely excluded. Here there are at least three Class I heirs — the widow, the daughter, and the other son's widow. The father gets nothing.

The Son's Widow and Her Eligibility

The widow of a predeceased son is a Class I heir. The only qualification that the law attaches is that she must not have remarried before the succession opened, i.e., before the date of the intestate's death. Section 24, which originally imposed this disqualification, was deleted by the 2005 Amendment. Even under the original Act (and now a fortiori after its deletion), her remarriage after the succession opens does not divest her of property already vested. We proceed on the assumption that she had not remarried before the intestate's death, so she inherits as a full Class I heir.

It is also important to understand how she inherits. She does not inherit in her personal right, but through the branch of her predeceased husband — the other son of the intestate. Under Rule 3 of Section 10, this branch is allocated one share equal to the share of a living son. Since there are no children of that predeceased son, she alone takes the share of that branch.

Computing the Shares — Applying Section 10

The Class I heirs who survive are:

• Widow (W)

• Daughter (D)

• Son who converted to Islam (CS) — not disqualified

• Son's widow (SW) — representing branch of predeceased son

Under Section 10, the distribution proceeds as follows:

• Each living heir — widow, daughter, and converted son — takes one share each (Rules 1 and 2)

• The branch of the predeceased son is allocated one share, which the son's widow takes entirely since she is the only surviving representative of that branch

The property is therefore divided into four equal shares:

The Deeper Principle

This distribution illustrates one of the most important and often misunderstood principles of the Hindu Succession Act: the Act is concerned with the religion of the intestate, not the religion of the heir. The converted son inherits because his blood relationship with the intestate is not severed by his change of faith. What Section 26 prohibits is the inheritance by his children if they were born after his conversion and are non-Hindus — but that question does not arise here, as the issue is only whether he can inherit from his father.

The father's exclusion — despite being the living patriarch of the family — vividly demonstrates the Act's foundational commitment to the nuclear family of the intestate as the primary unit of succession. A converted son, a married daughter, a widow, and a predeceased son's widow all share the estate equally, while the living father stands entirely outside.