In Brief
In 1942, a Thiyya family property devolved on the male heir Sukumaran following Hindu Mitakshara law, which excluded daughters from inheriting ancestral land. Decades later, the daughters of the deceased original owner claimed rights under Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, which grants women absolute property ownership. The Supreme Court dismissed their appeal, holding that Section 14 requires the female to have possessed the property—a condition never met here. The defendants had maintained continuous possession. All three lower courts had found the land agricultural and affirmed adverse possession against the claimants. Without exceptional circumstances, the Court declined to reappraise concurrent factual findings.
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