‘Stridhan’ is the absolute property of a woman and the husband has no title or independent dominion over the property: Supreme Court

In a recent verdict, the Supreme Court (SC) of India reiterated that ‘stridhan’ is the absolute property of a woman with all rights to dispose at her pleasure and her husband has no control over the same. It added that the husband “may use it during the time of his distress but nonetheless, he has a moral obligation to restore the same or its value to his wife.” The SC bench consisting of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said stridhan property does not become a joint property of the wife and the husband and the husband has no title or independent dominion over the property as owner. While delivering the verdict, the SC bench addressed its earlier judgment in the Rashmi Kumar vs. Mahesh Kumar Bhada case. It said that “properties gifted to a woman before marriage, at the time of marriage or at the time of bidding of farewell or thereafter are her stridhan properties. It is her absolute property with all rights to dispose at her own pleasure. The husband has no control over her stridhan property. He may use it during the time of his distress but nonetheless, he has a moral obligation to restore the same or its value to his wife.”

During the proceedings, the SC bench also opined that “Matters of matrimony can rarely be said to be simple or straightforward; hence, human reaction as per a mechanical timeline before the sacred bond of marriage is severed is not what one would expect. Divorce, majorly, in Indian society is still considered a stigma, and any delay in commencement of legal proceedings is quite understandable because of the attempts made to have the disputes and differences resolved; more so, in a case of the present nature, when the appellant was faced with the imminent prospect of termination of her second marriage.” After hearing the matter, the SC bench directed the man to pay Rs. 25 Lakh to his wife in 6 months in return for her lost gold. It further reiterated “It is well established that gifts made to the bride by the bride’s husband or her parents or by relatives from the side of her husband or parents, at the time of marriage, constitute her stridhan.” 

In this case, the wife (appellant) got married to the respondent. According to the appellant, 89 sovereigns of gold were gifted to her by her family at the time of marriage. After the wedding, the appellant’s father gave Rs. 2 Lakhs to the respondent. According to the appellant, on the first night of marriage, her husband took custody of all her jewelry and entrusted the same to his mother under the garb of safekeeping. The spouses drifted apart over time owing to disputes and differences. The wife filed an original petition before the Family Court for the recovery of the value of jewelry and the amount of Rs. 2 Lakhs given by her father to the husband. The wife (appellant) also filed a petition for the dissolution of marriage. The Family Court allowed the wife’s petition and held that the respondents misappropriated her gold jewelry whereas this decision was reserved by the High Court. Therefore, the matter was mentioned before the Supreme Court.