Hindu Succession Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide
Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1956
Section 25 of Hindu Succession Act: Murderer disqualified
Official Bare Act Text
Override / Mandate Mens Rea (Intent) Actus Reus (Conduct) Punishment Limitation Monetary
A person who commits murder or abets the commission of murder shall be disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered, or any other property in furtherance of the succession to which he or she committed or abetted the commission of the murder.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 25
Section 25 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 codifies the fundamental public policy doctrine disqualifying murderers from inheriting from their victims.
Core Legal Standard: Section 25 embodies the universal equitable maxim that no person shall profit from their own criminal wrong.
Operational Mechanism: It enacts that a person who commits murder or abets the commission of murder shall be disqualified from inheriting the property of the person murdered, or any other property in furtherance of the succession to which he or she committed or abetted the commission of the murder.
Appointment & Institutional Framework: The statutory disqualification applies not only to the direct victim's estate, but also to any collateral succession where the murder was committed to accelerate or advance the murderer's inheritance prospects.
Under Section 27, the estate devolves as if the murderer had died before the intestate.
Key Landmark Precedents:
Vellikannu v. R. Singaperumal (2005) 6 SCC 622: The Supreme Court held that a son who murdered his father is completely disqualified from inheriting any share in the father's property under Section 25. Furthermore, the murderer's wife or descendants claiming through him cannot claim any benefit, as equity will not permit the murderer's lineage to benefit from parricide.
Minoti v. Sushil Mohansingh Malik (AIR 1982 Bom 68): The Bombay High Court held that the word 'murder' in Section 25 must be given its popular and ordinary sense, covering culpable homicide, and a criminal court conviction establishes a complete statutory disqualification.
Legal Commentary:
Section 25 acts as an absolute bar in succession jurisprudence. Once an heir is convicted of murdering or abetting the murder of an intestate, civil courts apply Section 25 to strike their name from the line of succession. Under Section 27, the disqualification is treated as a civil death occurring prior to the intestate's demise.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 25
Section 25 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 codifies the fundamental public policy doctrine disqualifying murderers from inheriting from their victims.
Under Section 27, the estate devolves as if the murderer had died before the intestate.
Section 25 acts as an absolute bar in succession jurisprudence. Once an heir is convicted of murdering or abetting the murder of an intestate, civil courts apply Section 25 to strike their name from the line of succession. Under Section 27, the disqualification is treated as a civil death occurring prior to the intestate's demise.