The legal principle established is that a person convicted of murder is disqualified from inheriting the property of the victim under Section 25 of the Hindu Succession Act.

REKHA SHARMA, J.

( 1 ) SMT. JANAK Rani and Shri Surjit Kumar Chadha lost their daughter and what has added to their misery is that that precious life was lost at the hands of their son-in-law to whom they had given her hand in marriage. The deceased was smt. Shamma Chadha. She was married to Shri Prabhat Uppal. The deceased has left behind property bearing plot No. 4 Road P1, admeasuring 250. 56 sq. mtrs. situated at Village Shahpur now known as DLF Qutab Enclave Complex Tehsil and district Gurgaon. The said property was purchased by her prior to her marriage and as she died intestate, her parents are now claiming 'letters of administration' with regard to it under Sections 273 and 278 of the Indian succession Act.

( 2 ) NOTICE of the probate petition was issued to the husband of the deceased and so also to the public at large through publication in the newspaper "the statesman" inviting of objections, if any. In response to the notice, the husband filed his reply stating that he had no objection to the grant of 'letters of Administration' to the parents of the deceased. His parents also laid no claim to the property.

( 3 ) IT is not in dispute that the husband was convicted under Section 302 IPC for committing the murder of his wife and that in appeal his conviction was converted from Section 302 to Section 304 IPC Part I. It is laid down in Section 25 of the Hindu Succession Act 1956 that a person who commits murder shall be disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered. If the husband has not staked claim to the property of his wife it is not on account of any remorse on his part but because of this section. I say so for the reason, that during the course of arguments his counsel contended that the property should go to his parents, despite the fact, that the parents themselves had made no claim to it. The submission was based on Section 15 of the Hindu Succession act, 1956 which reads as under : -"15. General rules of succession in the case of female Hindus:- (1) The property of a female Hindu dying intestate shall devolve according to the rules set out in section 16,- (a) firstly, upon the sons and daughters (including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) and the husband; (b) secondly, upon the heirs of the husband; (c) thirdly, upon the mother and father;"

( 4 ) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner rebutted the submission and in support relied upon Section 27 of the Hindu Succession Act which lays down that if any person is disqualified from inheriting any property under this Act, it shall devolve as if such person had died before the intestate. There is no dispute that in view of Section 25 of the Hindu Succession act the husband is not entitled to claim inheritance to the property of his deceased wife. The said section has been incorporated in the Act on the maxim "nemo Ex Suo Delicto Melforem Suam Conditionem facre Protest". It is based on the principles of justice, equity and good conscience to make it impossible for a murderer who deserves to be hanged or to be shut behind the prison bars for life, to derive advantage or beneficial interest from the very heinous act committed by him. This has been so stated in the case Nannepuneni seetharamaiah and others v. Nannepuneni Ramakrishnaiah reported in AIR 1970 andhra Pradesh 407. I am in complete agreement with what has been held in the said judgment.

( 5 ) AS regards Section 27 it goes a step further. It treats, of-course by fiction of law, such person as is described in Section 25 as dead before the intestate. This means that he was non-existent for the purpose of inheritance and therefore no right to the estate of the deceased can be claimed through him. Admittedly the parents of the husband have no independent locus to claim inheritance to the property of the deceased. They can claim only through their son which is impermisable.

( 6 ) COMING to the parents of the deceased they, in order to prove their claim have filed their evidence