- By Surarika Das
- Sun, 29 Mar 2026 04:42 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Moral obligation cannot be enforced as a legal one, the Allahabad Court said after rejecting an elderly couple's petition for maintenance from their daughter-in-law after their son died. Earlier, the petition was dismissed by a family court in August 2025.
According to the counsel, the petitioners are old and illiterate, and they were dependent on their son, who worked as a constable with the Uttar Pradesh police. Their son married in 2016 and died in 2021. His wife is also a police constable in the Uttar Pradesh police.
The elderly couple claimed that their daughter-in-law has enough independent income and has also received service benefits after their son's death. "Emphasis was laid on the moral obligation of the daughter-in-law to maintain the aged parents-in-law, which, according to the revisionists, should be treated as a legal obligation," the court said in its order.
The daughter-in-law's legal representative said the family court had decided the matter and concluded that no intervention was required.
The Allahabad court stated that the elderly couple sought relief under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and noted that parents-in-law do not come under the ambit of the law. Section 144 empowers courts to issue orders to an individual, directing him to pay maintenance to his dependent wife, child, and parents.
"The legislature, in its wisdom, has not included parents-in-law within the ambit of the said provision. In other words, it is not the scheme of the legislature to fasten liability of maintenance upon a daughter-in-law towards her parents-in-law under the said provision," Justice Madan Pal Singh said in his ruling of February 4.
The High court said that it had found no proof to indicate that the daughter-in-law got the government job on compassionate grounds. "The concept of moral obligation, howsoever compelling it may appear, cannot be enforced as a legal obligation in the absence of a statutory mandate. Maintenance under the said provision can be claimed only by persons falling within the categories specifically enumerated therein," the court said, upholding the family court order and dismissing the elderly couple's petition.
ALSO READ: ‘Divorce First’: Allahabad HC’s U-Turn On Married Man Entering Live-In Relationships
When SC Gave Assurance Of Widow's Maintenance After Father-In-Law's Death
In a January 2026 ruling, the Supreme Court said that a widowed daughter-in-law is entitled to claim maintenance from her deceased father-in-law’s estate—even if she became a widow after his death.
According to the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956, a Hindu daughter-in-law who becomes a widow after her father-in-law passes away is still legally entitled to maintenance from his inheritance, according to the Supreme Court of India.