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Ahmedabad City Court has recently dismissed a suit filed by Hindu daughters who claimed the retirement benefits of their mother who had converted to Islam, according to a report in TOI.

The Court said that Hindu daughters are not entitled for any benefits according to Mohammedan Laws and that her Muslim son was her Class I heir who will be considered as a rightful and legitimate successor under Mohammedan laws.

In the year 1979 Ranjan Tripathi, herein referred as the deceased Muslim woman lost her husband who was an Employee at a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd employee. At the times, she was pregnant with her third daughter. After the death of her husband, on the grounds of sympathy, BSNL accommodated the widow as a clerk. After her job she did not stay with her family and her three daughters were taken care by her husband’s paternal family.

Ranjan Tripathi started living with a Muslim man. In the year 1990, her three daughters filed a suit for maintenance against their mother Ranjan Tripathi on the grounds of abandonment and the judgment was in favour of the daughters.

In 1995, she got married with Muslim man and after conversion, she changed her name from Ranjan Tripathi to Rehana Malek. They had a son from this marriage and before her death in 2009 she named her son as her nominee in the service records.

After the death of Ranjan Tripathi @ Rehana Malek, her Hindu daughters again filed a suit before the City Civil Court for the rights of their mother’s provident fund, insurance, gratuity, insurance, leave encashment, and other benefits by alleging that they are Class I heirs on account of being her biological daughters.

In the suit, the daughters filed some contradictory claims for the relationship of her mother with her Muslim husband, her conversion to Muslim religion and the legitimacy of their son as well.

The Court however, said that the deceased was Muslim and therefore her class I heirs cannot be Hindus and can only be Muslims according to the law. No doubt the daughters are legitimate but after her second marriage she converted herself into Muslim, and a Hindu cannot be entitled for inheritance in this matter, the court said.

The City court also referred to a Gujarat High Court judgment in the case of Nayna Firozkhan Pathan @ Nasim Firozkhan Pathan Case in which the court said that even if a person converts to Islam religion, they will be governed by the Mohammedan law and not by their previous personal laws, and hence a Hindu cannot be a Class I heir of Muslim.