First wife of dead man wins legal battle for succession rights

The man,Avinash Shinde (54),was an employee with the state government milk scheme when he died on March 18,2007. Immediately after his death,Aruna Avinash Shinde filed an application in the Pune district court for a succession certificate in respect of dues of about Rs 5 lakh.

She stated in her application that she had married Avinash on November 15,1981 and they had a son.

Months later,another woman,Sindhu,claimed she was Avinash’s wife and filed an application in court claiming the succession certificate. She claimed she and Avinash had been living as man and wife for the past 26 years and had a son.

“The court restricted itself to deciding who is entitled to the property…,” said advocate V P Shinde,counsel for Aruna. He said both Aruna and Sindhu furnished evidences supporting their claims.

Aruna produced a certified copy of the voter list revealing her and Avinash’s name. Also,she was shown to be the nominee in details supplied by Avinash to his office. She also produced Avinash’s insurance policy.

Sindhu produced a marriage certificate and a gazette notification of her name change to make her claim. “The court observed that Avinash had not divorced Aruna before he married Sindhu,therefore his marriage with Sindhu was illegal,” advocate Shinde said.

The court observed,“evidence on record is not convincing to disprove the case of either.” The order stated that Aruna had the nomination in her favour made by Avinash in his office and she would certainly be preferred than Sindhu. “The nomination had never been changed by Avinash though he had the opportunity to do so,” it stated.