In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that a woman’s stridhan—the gifts and ornaments she receives during marriage—belongs exclusively to her. The ruling emphasized that even a woman’s father cannot demand its return from her in-laws unless she explicitly authorizes him to do so.
The court’s decision arose from a case where a father attempted to recover his divorced daughter’s stridhan from her former in-laws. A bench comprising Justice JK Maheshwari and Justice Sanjay Karol quashed the father’s FIR, which sought the return of these items years after the daughter’s divorce and subsequent remarriage.
The Court highlighted the long-standing legal precedent that firmly establishes a woman’s absolute ownership over her stridhan. The bench observed, “The law is unequivocal that stridhan is the sole property of the woman, and no one else, including her husband or father, has any right to it.”
Citing various legal precedents, the Court underscored that under Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, a Hindu woman is the absolute owner of her property, which includes her stridhan. The bench also pointed out that the father did not possess any legal standing to file the FIR as no power of attorney had been granted to him by his daughter, who was fully capable of making her own decisions.
The case involved allegations that the woman’s former in-laws had withheld her stridhan—including gold and other valuables given during her marriage in 1999. Despite a clear Separation Agreement during her 2016 divorce, which settled all marital disputes, the father filed the FIR in 2021, claiming the items had not been returned.
The Supreme Court found that the FIR did not meet the requirements for criminal breach of trust under Section 406 of the IPC, noting that there was no evidence of dishonest misappropriation by the former in-laws. Additionally, the Court remarked on the significant delay in filing the complaint and criticized the misuse of legal proceedings for personal vendettas.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court quashed the FIR and dismissed the criminal proceedings, reiterating that legal processes should not be manipulated for revenge. The judgment is a clear statement on the sanctity of stridhan as a woman’s exclusive property, beyond the reach of even her closest relatives without her explicit consent.
