No legal obligation: Allahabad HC says daughter-in-law cannot be forced to support in-laws

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a daughter-in-law cannot be legally compelled to maintain her parents-in-law under Section 125 of the CrPC, now replaced by Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) , stating that the provision does not recognise such a relationship for maintenance claims.

In a recent order, Justice Madan Pal Singh said that the right to claim maintenance is a statutory right limited to categories specifically listed in the law. Since parents-in-law are not included within the ambit of the provision , courts cannot impose maintenance liability on a daughter-in-law.

The court stressed that a moral obligation cannot be enforced as a legal duty unless the legislature expressly provides for it. Observing that the statute does not contemplate such liability, the judge said it is not the scheme of the law to fasten maintenance responsibility on a daughter-in-law towards her parents-in-law.

The order came while dismissing a revision petition filed by an elderly couple challenging an August 2025 decision of a family court in Agra that had rejected their application for maintenance.

The couple told the court they were old, illiterate and indigent and had been fully dependent on their son during his lifetime . After his death, they sought financial support from their widowed daughter-in-law, who is employed as a constable in the Uttar Pradesh Police and was receiving the service and retirement benefits of their deceased husband.

They argued that their daughter-in-law had sufficient independent income and therefore had a moral responsibility to maintain her aged parents-in-law , which they urged the court to recognise as a legal obligation.

Rejecting the plea, the high court noted that there was no material to show that the woman had secured her police job on compassionate grounds after her husband’s death. The court said such an argument could not be used to impose a maintenance liability on her.

The court further clarified that issues relating to succession or inheritance of the deceased son’s property cannot be examined in summary maintenance proceedings , which are limited to determining entitlement under the maintenance provision alone.

With these observations, the high court upheld the family court’s decision and dismissed the couple’s petition seeking maintenance from their daughter-in-law.