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Section 21: Presumption in cases of simultaneous deaths

Hindu Succession Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1956
Section 20 All 31 Sections The Schedule (Heirs) Section 22

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 21

Section 21 establishes a statutory presumption governing simultaneous deaths, providing that where two or more persons die in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived, the elder is presumed to have died before the younger.

  • Presumption of Survivorship by Seniority: Where two or more persons have died in circumstances rendering it uncertain which of them survived the other or others, it shall be presumed that the younger survived the elder.
  • Rebuttable Presumption of Fact & Law: Operates unless and until the contrary is affirmatively proved by positive medical, forensic, or eyewitness evidence.
  • Critical in Mass Disasters: Determines the line and order of succession in plane crashes, car accidents, building collapses, or drowning disasters involving family members.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • In re: Jayantilal AIR 1982 Guj 125: The High Court held that Section 21 establishes a clear statutory presumption; in the absence of cogent evidence showing the exact sequence of death, the elder person is deemed in law to have predeceased the younger.
  • Y.K. Subbanna v. B.K. Padmavathi AIR 1981 Kant 143: Affirmed that Section 21 resolves complex succession impasses in common disasters, dictating that property flows through the younger deceased person's heirs.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In disaster litigation where father and son die in the same accident, apply Section 21: the father (elder) is presumed to have died first. The father's property immediately vested in the son (younger), and upon the son's death moments later, the estate devolves upon the son's heirs (his widow and mother).

Section 20 All 31 Sections The Schedule (Heirs) Section 22