The gifts made to the girl before, during and after the marriage by the father, mother and brother present-in-law of the girl are the part of the Stridhan. Section 27 and Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act do not abolish the concept of Stridhan. She is the absolute owner of such properties and can deal with it in any manner she likes. The husband has no right or interest in it, except that in the lines of extreme distress as in illness etc. Though the husband can utilize it but he is bound to restore it when he is able to do so. When husband refuses to return Stridhan property of wife, she can take recourse to above provisions to recover the same. These provisions provide alternate remedy to the wife apart from criminal proceedings under Section 406 of the indian penal code.
Stridhan means woman’s property, In the entire history of Hindu Law, woman’s rights to hold and
dispose of property has been recognized.
Kinds of Woman’s Property
What is the character of property that is whether it is stridhan or woman’s estate, depends on the source from which it has been obtained. They are:
Gifts and bequests from relations- Such gifts may be made to woman during maidenhood, coverture or widowhood by her parents and their relations or by the husband and his relation. Such gifts may be inter vivos or by will. The Dayabhaga School doesn’t recognize gifts of immovable property by husband as stridhan.
Gifts and bequests from non-relations- Property received by way of gift inter vivos or under a will of strangers that is, other than relations, to a woman, during maidenhood or widowhood constitutes her stridhan. The same is the position of gifts given to a woman by strangers before the nuptial fire or at the bridal procession. Property given to a woman by a gift inter vivos or bequeathed to her by her strangers during coverture is stridhan according to Bombay, Benaras and Madras schools.
Property acquired by self exertion, science and arts-A woman may acquire property at any stage of her life by her own self exertion such as by manual labour, by employment, by singing, dancing etc., or by any mechanical art. According to all schools of Hindu Law, the property thus acquired during widowhood or maidenhood is her stridhan. But, the property thus acquired during coverture does not constitute her stridhan according to Mithila and Bengal Schools, but according to the rest of the schools it is stridhan. During husband’s lifetime it is subject to his control.
Property purchased with the income of stridhan- In all schools of Hindu Law it is a well settled law that the properties purchased with stridhan or with the savings of stridhan as well as all accumulations and savings of the income of stridhan, constitute stridhan.
Property purchased under a compromise- When a person acquires property under a compromise; what estate he will take in it, depends upon the compromise deed. In Hindu Law there is no presumption that a woman who obtains property under a compromise takes it as a limited estate. Property obtained by a woman under a compromise where under she gives up her rights, will be her stridhan. When she obtains some property under a family arrangement, whether she gets a stridhan or woman’s estate will depend upon the terms of the family arrangement.
Property obtained by adverse possession- Any property acquired by a woman at any stage of her life by adverse possession is her stridhan.
Property obtained in lieu of maintenance- Under all the schools of Hindu Law payments made to a Hindu female in lump sum or periodically for her maintenance and all the arrears of such maintenance constitute stridhan. Similarly, all movable or immovable properties transferred to her by way of an absolute gift in lieu of maintenance constitute her stridhan.
Property received in inheritance- A Hindu female may inherit property from a male or a female; from her parent’s side or from husband’s side. The Mitakshara constituted all inherited property a stidhan, while the Privy Council held such property as woman’s estate.
Property obtained on partition- When a partition takes place except in Madras, father’s wife mother and grandmother take a share in the joint family property. In the Mitakshara jurisdiction, including Bombay and the Dayabhaga school it is an established view that the share obtained on partition is not stridhan but woman’s estate.
Stridhan has all the characteristics of absolute ownership of property. The stridhan being her absolute property, the female has full rights of its alienation. This means that she can sell, gift, mortgage, lease, and exchange her property. This is entirely true when she is a maiden or a widow. Some restrictions were recognised on her power of alienation, if she were a married
woman. For a married woman stridhan falls under two heads:
the sauadayika (gifts of love and affection)- gifts received by a woman from relations on both sides (parents and husband).
the non-saudayika- all other types of stridhan such as gifts from stranger, peoperty acquired by self-exertion or mechanical art.
Over the former she has full rights of disposal but over the latter she has no right of alienation without the consent of her husband. The husband also had the power to use it.
As per you query you have told that the said act of you in laws is nothing but to show there wealth and nothing and if they say that it was gift for you marriage means it comes under streedhan
