Bombay HC Orders: First Wife Can Claim Husband’s Money, Not Second

The Bombay High Court has on Tuesday said, “If a man has two wives and both lay claim to his money, only the first wife would be entitled for it but his children from both marriages would get the money, according to law”.

A bench of Justices comprising, SJ Kathawalla and Madhav Jamdar, made the above observation orally after the state government submitted that there existed a previous full bench judgment of the high court's Aurangabad bench that gave a similar direction. The bench justices led by Justice Kathawalla was hearing a petition filed by the second wife of Suresh Hatankar, an assistant sub-inspector in the Maharashtra railway police force who died of Covid-19 on May 30. As the state government's resolution promises a compensation of Rs 65 lakh to police personnel who die of Covid-19 while on duty, two women, both claiming to be Hatankar's wives, had laid a claim to the compensation amount. Later, Shraddha, Hatankar's daughter from his second wife, approached the Bombay High Court, seeking that she be given a proportionate share of the compensation amount to save her and her mother from "starvation" and homelessness.

The court said, "The law says that the second wife might not get anything. But the daughter from the second wife, and the first wife and the daughter from the first marriage will be entitled to the money". On August 25, 2020, the Maharashtra’s state counsel, Jyoti Chavan, told the bench that the state would deposit the compensation amount in the court for the time that HC takes to decide who is entitled to the amount. Chavan also informed the court about the judgment of the Aurangabad bench.

The court then said, “The law says that the second wife might not get anything. But the daughter from the second wife, and the first wife and the daughter from the first marriage will be entitled to the money”.