Only first Wife of Man entitled to lay claim on his Money, says High Court

On Tuesday, the High Court of Bombay said as per law, if a man has 2 wives & both lay claim to his money, only the first wife would be entitled for it but his children from both marriages would get the money.

A bench of Justice S J Kathawalla & Justice Madhav Jamdar made the above observation orally after the State Govt submitted that there existed a previous full bench Judgement of the HC’s Aurangabad bench that gave a similar direction. 

The bench led by Justice Kathawalla was hearing a plea filed by the second wife of Suresh Hatankar, an assistant sub-inspector in the Maharashtra railway police force who died of COVID-19 on May 30.

As the State Govt’s resolution promises a compensation of Rs 65 lakh to police personnel who die of COVID-19 while on duty, two women, both claiming to be Hatankar’s wives, had laid a claim to the compensation amount.

Later, Shraddha, Hatankar’s daughter from his second wife, approached the High Court of Bombay, seeking that she be given a proportionate share of the compensation amount to save her & her mother from “starvation” & homelessness.

On Tuesday, state’s counsel Jyoti Chavan told the bench that the state would deposit the compensation amount in the court for the time that HC takes to decide who is entitled to the amount.

Chavan also informed the court about the judgement of the Aurangabad bench. 

“The law says that the second wife might not get anything. But the daughter from the second wife, & the first wife & the daughter from the first marriage will be entitled to the money,” the Court said.

Hatankar’s first wife Shubhada & the couple’s daughter Surbhi, who were present before the court through video-conferencing, alleged they were not aware that Hatankar had “another family”.

However, Shraddha’s counsel Prerak Sharma told the Court that Surbhi & Shubhada knew about Hatankar’s 2 marriages & they had contacted Surbhi on FB on previous occasions.

Sharma also said that Hatankar had been living with his second wife & their daughter in the railway police quarters allotted to him in Dharavi. 

Therefore, the HC, directed Hatankar’s first wife & her daughter to file an affidavit by Thursday, clarifying if they knew Hatankar had 2 families.

The Court posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.

Hatankar married for the first time in 1992 & his second marriage took place in 1998.

Shraddha told the Court in her plea that both the marriages were registered with the Registrar of Marriages & under the Hindu Marriage Act.

She alleged in her plea that being the child of Hatankar’s second wife, she too had the right to family pension, & death-cum-retirement gratuity.

Therefore, she & her mother should get equal proportion of the compensation disbursed by the state government & the Railways. 

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