Allahabad HC says daughter-in-law not liable for maintenance
Court distinguishes moral duty from enforceable legal obligation
Parents-in-law not covered under maintenance law provisions
Daughter-In-Law Not Legally Bound To Maintain Parents-In-Law: Allahabad HC
Allahabad High Court rules daughter-in-law not legally bound to maintain parents-in-law, saying law does not cover them despite moral obligations
Summary
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The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a daughter-in-law is not legally obligated to maintain her parents-in-law under Section 125 of the CrPC – now Section 144 of the BNSS.
In a recent order, Justice Madan Pal Singh observed that the right to claim maintenance is a statutory right and is confined only to the categories of persons expressly mentioned in the section itself, and the parents-in-law do not fall within that ambit.
The court said that a moral obligation, however compelling it may appear, cannot be enforced as a legal obligation in the absence of a statutory mandate.
Dismissing a revision petition filed by an elderly couple against their daughter-in-law, the court said, “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.” The couple had moved the high court challenging an August 2025 order passed by a family court in Agra, which rejected their application seeking maintenance under Section 144 of the Bhartiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
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The couple submitted that they were old, illiterate, indigent and wholly dependent on their deceased son during his lifetime.
They contended that their daughter-in-law, a constable with Uttar Pradesh Police, had sufficient independent income besides receiving all service and retirement benefits of her deceased husband.
They also contended that the daughter-in-law's “moral obligation” to maintain her aged parents-in-law should be treated as a legal obligation.
The court, however, rejected this contention, noting that there was nothing on record to indicate that the daughter-in-law's police employment was secured on compassionate grounds.
The court also clarified that submissions regarding succession to the deceased son's property did not fall for consideration in such summary maintenance proceedings.
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