by Mohammad Baksh, the common ancestor of the par(cid:21)es. Upon his death, the land devolved upon his son Roshan, therea(cid:29)er upon his son Hayatoo, and finally upon Smt. Jano, widow of Hayatoo, who died issueless.

4. The plain(cid:21)ff pleaded that he, along with defendant Nos.4 and 5, being collaterals of the deceased husband, were the legal heirs of Smt. Jano. It was further pleaded that the par(cid:21)es belonged to the Mohammedan Gujjar community, were agriculturists by profession, and were governed by customary law in ma,ers of succession, aliena(cid:21)on, marriage and adop(cid:21)on. According to the plain(cid:21)ff, as per the prevailing custom, a widow or female inheri(cid:21)ng property from her husband acquires only a life estate, has no right of aliena(cid:21)on, and upon her death, the property reverts to the collaterals of the last male holder. On this premise, the plain(cid:21)ff challenged the registered gi(cid:29) deed dated 28.07.1977 executed by Smt. Jano in favour of defendants Nos.1 to 3 (appellants herein) as illegal, void and not binding, and sought possession a(cid:29)er se8ng aside the said aliena(cid:21)on.

5. Defence of Contes(cid:11)ng Defendants :