Paragraph numbers below are the court’s original numbering, recovered from the source text.
12. Similarly in Ram Piari vs. Bhagwant & Ors.4 this Court held when suspicious circumstance exists, Courts should not be swayed by due execution of the Will alone: “3. ……………….Unfortunately none of the courts paid any attention to these probably because they were swayed with due execution even when this Court in Venkatachaliah (1993) 3 SCC 364. [2025] 8 S.C.R. Gurdial Singh (Dead) Through LR v. Jagir Kaur (Dead) and Anr. Etc. case [AIR 1959 SC 443 : 1959 Supp 1 SCR 426] had held that, proof of signature raises a presumption about knowledge but the existence of suspicious circumstances rebuts it…………….”
13. There is no cavil when suspicious circumstances exist and have not been repelled to the satisfaction of the Court, the Court would not be justified in holding that the Will is genuine since the signatures have been duly proved and the Will is registered one5. Parameters to ascertain ‘suspicious circumstances’ vitiating a Will:-
14. This brings us to the next issue i.e. what are the suspicious circumstances which may vitiate the disposition. In Indu Bala Bose & Ors. vs. Manindra Chandra Bose & Anr.6 the Court held any and every circumstance is not a “suspicious” circumstance. “8. Needless to say that any and every circumstance is not a “suspicious” circumstance. A circumstance would be “suspicious” when it is not normal or is not normally expected in a normal situation or is not expected of a normal person.” The Court quoted the Privy Council’s elucidation in Hames v. Hinkson7 of suspicious circumstances as follows: “17……………where a Will is charged with suspicion, the rules enjoin a reasonable scepticism, not an obdurate persistence in disbelief. They do not demand from the Judge, even in circumstances of grave suspicion, a resolute and impenetrable incredulity. He is never required to close his mind to the truth.” It was again reiterated in PPK Gopalan Nambier vs. PPK Balakrishnan Nambiar & Ors.8 that suspected features should not be mere fantasies of a doubting mind. AIR 1962 SC 567, Para 23. (1982) 1 SCC 20. AIR 1946 PC 156. (1995) Supp. 2 SCC 664. 266 “5……………It is trite that it is the duty of the propounder of the will to prove the will and to remove all the suspected features. But there must be real, germane and valid suspicious features and not fantasy of the doubting mind.”
15. It is from this prism, we need to examine whether the High Court was justified in reversing the concurrent findings of the Trial Court and the appellate court and holding the Will was vitiated due to existence of suspicious circumstances. Findings of the Trial Court Trial Court dealt with this issue in the following manner: “As discussed above, defendant No. 1 is the widow of Maya Singh deceased. In Smt. Bhagya Wati Jain’s case (supra) it was held that deprivation of legal heir from succession may be one of the suspicious circumstances along with other but that by itself is not sufficient ground to raise presumption against the Will. Admittedly, defendant No. 1, who is widow of Maya Singh, has been dis-inherited. Statement of Jagir Kaur defendant No. 1 who appeared as DW3 reads as follow:- “I was married with Maya Singh, I lived with Maya Singh as his wife till his death. We took Guirpal Singh as our adopted son. He is the son of my sister. At the time of adoption Gurwas distributed. Maya Singh was in service and I draw pension. We are in possession of the land in suit. Maya Singh never told me having executed a Will in favour of the plaintiff. He was not on speaking terms with the plaintiff. I reside in the house of Maya Singh”. Jagir kaur has no where stated that the served Maya Singh during his life time. That she actually resided with Maya Singh on the day the Will was executed i.e. on 16.5.91. She is again silent whether she performed the last rites of Maya Singh. In the circumstances if Maya Singh did not mention about her in the Will the same is not required to be explained by the plaintiff. No doubt Arjan [2025] 8 S.C.R. Gurdial Singh (Dead) Through LR v. Jagir Kaur (Dead) and Anr. Etc. Singh and Naranjan Singh have stated that last rites were performed by the defendant No. 1. But their statements are to corroborate the statement of the defendant No. 1 and when the defendant No. 1 herself is silent about the service rendered to Maya Singh, statement of Arjan Singh and Naranjan Singh did not prove that Maya Singh was actually served and lived with defendant No. 1. As stated above there is nothing against Surinder Kumar and Chanan Singh PWs who proved the due execution of the Will by Maya Singh and if the widow had been deprived, of the Will cannot be discarded on this sole ground.” Findings of the First Appellate Court First Appellate Court upheld the findings of the Trial Court holding: “From this catena of judicial pronouncements there can be no manner of doubt that mere deprivation of a legal; heir or mere non mention of such legal heir’s name in the testamentary disposition, in itself, does not invalidate the will. A careful perusal of the will would reveal that the same purport to beat the signatures of testator Maya Singh (since deceased) in English. It is an admitted case of the parties that Maya Singh had been serving as a Havaldar in the Army and had retired from Military service which implies that he was an educated person. The will in dispute is a registered document on which the signatures of the testator or of the attesting witnesses have not been challenged by Jagir Kaur. There is nothing on the record, if Maya Singh was suffering from any mental incapacity to execute the will. The written statement of Jagir Kaur is quite silent with regards to the fact that Maya Singh was not in sound state of disposing mind. She has alleged that Maya Singh deceased was suffering from paralysis for the last more than 10 months before his death. Assuming it to be so, he might had been treated upon. Evidence regarding his treatment could have been produced by Jagir Kaur. There is no such evidence to the effect that he was paralytic without there being evidence, this plea remains unsubstantiated. Jagir Kaur, appearing as DW3 stated in her cross examination that Maya Singh 268 had executed a will in her favour. She has not set up the same in her written statement nor produced the sesame on record for the reasons best known to her. Therefore, an adverse inference can be drawn to the effect that no valid will has been executed by Maya Singh deceased in her favour. Further, there is no allegation from the side of Jagir Kaur defendant that the marginal witnesses of the will Ex. P. 1 or the Sub Registrar by whom the same was registered were in collusion with the legatee Gurdial Singh. There is no gain saying the fact that Jagir Kaur is drawing pension of Maya Singh being his widow. Ex. P. 7, is the certified copy of the order dated 29.9.1994 which purport to have been handed down by Commissioner (Appeals) Jalandhar Division. In its concluding paragraph, it has been mentioned that the petitioner (referring to Gurdial Singh) has explained that respondent No. 1 (referring to Jagir Kaur) was given the entire money left by the deceased (Maya Singh) and she was also entitled to get pension. My be that due to adjustment of pension and other deposits, Maya Singh had deprived Jagir Kaur of her state in the will and for that he did not think it proper to make reference to her in the disputed will.” Findings of the High Court High Court reversed these findings and held as under:- “The complete silence on the part of the executant qua his wife, while executing the Will, renders the will a suspicious document and leads to the inference that the same had not been executed by the executant of his free disposing mind. Rather it leads to the inference that the propounder of the Will might have influenced the executant to execute the Will in his favour. In these circumstances, the Courts below erred in holding that the Will dated 16.5.1991 was a genuine document.” Analysis
16. We are conscious that deprivation of a natural heir, by itself, may not amount to a suspicious circumstance because the whole idea [2025] 8 S.C.R. Gurdial Singh (Dead) Through LR v. Jagir Kaur (Dead) and Anr. Etc. behind the execution of the Will is to interfere with the normal line of succession.9 However, in Ram Piari (supra), this Court held prudence requires reason for denying the benefit of inheritance to natural heirs and an absence of it, though not invalidating the Will in all cases, shrouds the disposition with suspicion as it does not give inkling to the mind of the testator to enable the court to judge that the disposition was a voluntary act.10
17. It was rightly indicated in Leela Rajagopal vs. Kamala Menon Cocharan11 when unusual features appear in a Will or unnatural circumstances surround its execution, the Court must undertake a close scrutiny and make an overall assessment of the unusual circumstances before accepting the Will. The Court held as follows: “13. A will may have certain features and may have been executed in certain circumstances which may appear to be somewhat unnatural. Such unusual features appearing in a will or the unnatural circumstances surrounding its execution will definitely justify a close scrutiny before the same can be accepted. It is the overall assessment of the court on the basis of such scrutiny; the cumulative effect of the unusual features and circumstances which would weigh with the court in the determination required to be made by it. The judicial verdict, in the last resort, will be on the basis of a consideration of all the unusual features and suspicious circumstances put together and not on the impact of any single feature that may be found in a will or a singular circumstance that may appear from the process leading to its execution or registration. This, is the essence of the repeated pronouncements made by this Court on the subject including the decisions referred to and relied upon before us.”
18. What boils down from this discussion is that suspicious circumstance i.e. non-mention of the status of wife or the reason for her disinheritance in the Will ought not to be examined in isolation# but (1995) 4 SCC 459, (2004) 2 SCC 321 and (1995) Supp. 2 SCC 665. (1990) 3 SCC 364, Para 2. (2014) 15 SCC 570. # Ed. Note: “isolation” instead of “insolation” in terms of subsequent corrigendum. 270 in the light of all attending circumstances of the case. It would be argued that proof of signatures on the Will and its registration dispels such suspicious circumstance. On a first blush, this submission appears to be attractive till one delves further into the peculiar and unique circumstances of the case.
19. Appellant’s case was not only to propound the Will in his favour but even to deny the very status of 1st respondent as Maya Singh’s wife. When one reads the contents of the Will, appellant’s stand is stark and palpable in its tenor and purport. The Will is a cryptic one where Maya Singh bequests his properties to his nephew i.e. the appellant, as the latter was taking care of him. However, the Will is completely silent with regard to the existence of his own wife and natural heir, i.e. the 1st respondent, or the reason for her disinheritance. Evidence on record shows 1st respondent was residing with Maya Singh till the latter’s death. Nothing has come on record to show the relation between the couple was bitter. As per the appellant, she was nominated by Maya Singh and was entitled to receive his pension which demonstrates the testator’s conduct in accepting 1st respondent as his lawfully wedded wife. Further, the Trial Court erroneously observed that non-performance of last rites of Maya Singh by 1st respondent hinted at sour relations between the couple. Ordinarily, in a Hindu/Sikh family, last rites are performed by Male Sapinda relations. Given this practice, 1st respondent not performing last rites could not be treated as a contra indicator of indifferent relationship with her husband during the latter’s lifetime. In this backdrop, it cannot be said Maya Singh had during his lifetime, denied his marriage with 1st respondent or admitted that their relation was strained, so as to prompt him to erase her very existence in the Will. Such erasure of marital status is the tell-tale insignia of the propounder and not the testator himself. A cumulative assessment of the attending circumstances including this unusual omission to mention the very existence of his wife in the Will, gives rise to serious doubt that the Will was executed as per the dictates of the appellant and is not the ‘free will’ of the testator.
20. In this background, we have no hesitation to hold that non-mention of 1st respondent or the reasons for her disinheritance in the Will, is an eloquent reminder that the free disposition of the testator was [2025] 8 S.C.R. Gurdial Singh (Dead) Through LR v. Jagir Kaur (Dead) and Anr. Etc. vitiated by the undue influence of the appellant.
21. We are not impressed with reference to Dhanpat vs. Sheo Ram (deceased) through LRs. & Ors.12 that mere non-mention of some natural heirs would not vitiate the Will. In Dhanpat (Supra), the wife who had been disinherited, herself admitted that she had been ousted by her husband. On the other hand, DW3 unequivocally stated that she was living with her husband till his death and the specious rationale given that she may have been disinherited as Maya Singh’s monies had been settled in her favour and she was entitled to pension is hardly convincing. No evidence was led to show whether the quantum of money said to be settled in favour of 1st respondent was reasonable and would satisfy the conscience of a man of ordinary prudence with regard to her complete expungement in the Will.
22. For the aforesaid reasons, we affirm the impugned judgment and dismiss the appeals. Pending application (s), if any, stands disposed of. Result of the case: Appeals dismissed. †Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain (2020) 16 SCC 209.