Statutory disqualification from inheritance bars derivative succession claims by a murderer's widow under Hindu succession law.

A coparcener who murders the intestate is statutorily disqualified from inheritance under the Hindu Succession Act and is treated as having predeceased the deceased. On that basis, he cannot be treated as a stock of descent or confer any better title on persons claiming through him. The widow of such a disqualified son therefore could not inherit the father's estate through her husband, and the proviso to Section 6 and the succession rules under Section 8 did not assist her because her claim depended entirely on the prohibited title of the son. The dismissal of the suit was affirmed.

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Issues: Whether the widow of a son who was disqualified from inheriting his father's estate for having murdered him could claim the property of the father through the son under the Hindu Succession Act.

Analysis: The property was found to be Mitakshara coparcenary property, but the son's murder of his father attracted the statutory bar under Section 25 and the deeming fiction in Section 27 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956. A person so disqualified is treated as having predeceased the intestate and cannot be treated as a stock of descent. Since the son himself could not succeed, the widow could not derive any better title through him. The proviso to Section 6 and the rules of succession under Section 8 did not assist the appellant because the foundation of her claim was the deceased husband's prohibited title.

Conclusion: The widow had no right to inherit the estate through the murderer-son and the claim failed.

Final Conclusion: The dismissal of the suit was affirmed and the appeal failed because the statutory disqualification of the son also defeated the derivative claim of his wife.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a coparcener is statutorily disqualified from inheritance for murdering the intestate, he is treated as predeceasing the deceased and no succession can be claimed through him by his wife or other persons deriving title solely through him.

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