The Allahabad High Court has ordered State Bank of India to restore money taken from a widow’s fixed deposit toward her late husband’s loan, describing the debit as legally unsustainable.
In Neha Mishra v Reserve Bank of India, 2026:AHC-LKO:63471-DB, the woman created the deposit in 2025 from gratuity and other retirement benefits received after her husband’s death. The bank transferred the funds to another branch and adjusted them against his outstanding liability without obtaining her authority.
The court said the bank could pursue a legal heir through remedies recognised by law, but it could not unilaterally appropriate independently held money simply because the depositor was the borrower’s widow. A bank holding a customer’s deposit acts within defined contractual and legal limits. SBI must refund the amount with the fixed-deposit interest rate and pay ₹1 lakh in compensation within four weeks.
