‘Adopted son of a Muslim man can claim inheritance’

A Delhi court upholds inheritance rights of an adopted son under Muslim Personal Law. The court rules that a Muslim individual who doesn't file a declaration under Section 3 of the Shariat Act has opted out of Muslim Personal Law.

NEW DELHI: In a verdict that may have legal and social ramifications, a Delhi court has upheld the inheritance rights of an adopted son of a deceased man.
Additional district judge Praveen Singh held that a Muslim individual who doesn’t file a declaration under Section 3 of the Shariat Act has in effect opted to stay out of the purview of Muslim Personal Law as far as adoption, wills and legacies are concerned.'

The judge said such a person could adopt a child, who would be a legitimate child of his adoptive parents with all rights, privileges and responsibilities attached to such a relationship.
In the process, the court rejected the dead man’s brothers to a “natural” claim on three-quarters of deceased’s self-acquired property under Muslim law. Instead, the court gave the share to his wife and adopted son in a first-of-its-kind ruling on adoption-related inheritance rights of a Muslim individual since adoption in Islam is not legally recognised.
“It is not that in all cases a Muslim by religion has to be bound by Muslim Personal Law and has no choice to move out of the purview of Muslim Personal Law,” the court ruled on a partition suit filed by Iqbal Ahmed, the brother of the dead man, Zamir Ahmed, seeking a share in his property.

Iqbal argued that in accordance with the Muslim Personal Law, only one-fourth of Zamir’s properties should go to his widow with the rest being distributed among his siblings. Zamir’s three sisters were entitled to 15% share and the remaining 60% to the plaintiff and five brothers of the deceased.
The suit claimed that Zamir died childless on July 3, 2008, and inheritance was governed by Muslim Personal Law. In reality, Zamir and his wife, Gulzaro Begum, had adopted a son, Abdul Samad aka Sameer, without making any declaration of this under the Shariat Act.

Under Muslim law of Inheritance, there are three classes of legal heirs: sharers, residuary and distant kindred. The court noted that of the 12 Quranic sharers, only the widow of the deceased survived and said that since the deceased was survived by his widow and a son, the inheritance had to be decided accordingly. It also observed that under the Shariat Act, a Muslim retained the right to stay out of the purview of Muslim Personal Law on certain aspects.
“Deceased Zamir Ahmed had elected not to be governed by Muslim Personal Law on the subject of adoption and thus, if he had adopted a child as claimed by defendant no. 1 (Gulzaro Begum), the said adoption shall be governed by general law of the land,” the court declared.
The court said it couldn’t bring Zamir within the fold of Muslim Law by an indirect route and doing so would be in violation of the choice given to the deceased by law. ADJ Singh said, “The son being a residuary excludes the brothers and sisters of deceased Zamir Ahmed. This being the case, I am of the considered opinion that the plaintiff and the defendant brothers and sisters are not entitled to the partition as prayed for.”