Supreme Court: Uncle-in-law cannot adopt niece’s husband as ghardamad under Oraon customary law
New Delhi, July 9: The Supreme Court has held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece’s husband as a ghardamad (resident son-in-law)…
New Delhi, July 9: The Supreme Court has held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece’s husband as a ghardamad (resident son-in-law) under the customary law of the Oraon tribal community, ruling that no such custom had been established in evidence.
A Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh set aside the concurrent judgments of the trial court, the first appellate court and the Jharkhand High Court, which had upheld the inheritance claim based on the alleged ghardamad arrangement.
“It is nowhere established that an uncle-in-law can adopt his niece’s husband as his ghardamad within the prevalent customary law,” the Bench observed.
Property dispute
The dispute arose over ancestral property belonging to Sukhu Oraon, who had three sons — Dhungru, Ledura and Bhoula. Ledura died without children, while Bhoula was survived by his daughter, Budhain.
Bejla Oraon, son of Dhungru, claimed that as the nearest male agnate, he was entitled to inherit the property after the deaths of Ledura and Bhoula.
The defendants contended that Budhain’s husband, Punai, had been inducted as ghardamad by Ledura and was therefore entitled to succeed to the property. They also relied on a document dated February 27, 1975, described during the proceedings as a partition deed.
The trial court dismissed the suit, accepting the defendants’ contention. The first appellate court affirmed the decision, while the Jharkhand High Court dismissed the second appeal despite framing a substantial question of law on whether an uncle-in-law could induct a ghardamad under Oraon customary law.
Custom must be established
Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court held that although the institution of ghardamad is recognised under Oraon customary law, the defendants had failed to prove that the arrangement in the present case satisfied the requirements of the custom.
Relying on anthropologist Sarat Chandra Roy’s work The Oraon of Chotanagpur, the Bench observed that succession rights accrue to a ghardamad only when he has been adopted into the household by the last male owner or, in certain circumstances, by the owner’s widow.
In the present case, the Court noted, Punai was allegedly inducted by Ledura, who was Budhain’s uncle and not her father.
The Bench reiterated that the burden of proving the existence and scope of a customary practice rests on the party asserting it.
Nearest male agnate entitled
The Court held that, in the absence of a validly recognised ghardamad or any other eligible male heir directly related to the landowner, the nearest male agnate would be entitled to inherit the property under the applicable customary law.
Accordingly, it set aside the judgments of the courts below, decreed the plaintiff’s suit and allowed the appeal. The Court directed that each party would bear its own costs.
