Can a Daughter-in-Law Be Legally Compelled to Maintain Her In-Laws? Allahabad High Court Clarifies the Legal Position
Case Overview
Rakesh Kumar And Another Vs State of U.P. and Another
Court: Allahabad High Court
Provision Under Challenge: Order dated 21.08.2025 passed by Principal Judge, Family Court, Agra
Proceedings Arising From: Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Background of the Dispute
This matter came before the Allahabad High Court by way of a criminal revision directed against the order dated 21.08.2025 passed by the Principal Judge, Family Court, Agra in Case No. 2238 of 2024. The Family Court had, through the said order, rejected the maintenance application filed by the revisionists — the aged parents of a deceased individual — against their daughter-in-law under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
The core question before the High Court was straightforward yet legally significant: Can parents-in-law enforce a legal right to maintenance against a daughter-in-law under the statutory maintenance framework?
Facts of the Case
The revisionists — the father-in-law and mother-in-law — approached the courts claiming that they were elderly, illiterate, and financially helpless individuals who had been entirely dependent upon their son, late Pravesh Kumar, throughout his lifetime.
Key factual background:
- The marriage between the deceased, late Pravesh Kumar, and the opposite party no. 2 was solemnized on 26.04.2016
- Late Pravesh Kumar passed away on 31.03.2021
- The daughter-in-law, opposite party no. 2, is employed as a Constable in the Uttar Pradesh Police
- She reportedly received all service and retiral benefits of the deceased upon his death
- The revisionists had no independent source of income and no other children to support them
Arguments Advanced by the Revisionists
The counsel representing the revisionists urged the Court to set aside the Family Court's order on the following grounds:
- The impugned order was illegal, arbitrary, and reflected non-application of judicial mind
- The revisionists were advanced in age, uneducated, and lacked any means of subsistence
- Their sole son had passed away, leaving them without any support system
- The daughter-in-law, being gainfully employed with the state police and having received substantial financial benefits arising out of her deceased husband's service, was fully capable of providing maintenance
- A moral obligation existed on the part of the daughter-in-law to support her deceased husband's parents, and such moral duty ought to be recognized and treated as a legal obligation by the courts