Signature in a language which is ordinarily not used by a person does not make the will bogus, the Bombay High Court has held while validating the document.
The will in question was of Melwani, a Sindhi by birth, and was signed in Gurumukhi, her mother tongue.
According to the will dated March 20, 1991, she had bequeathed her flat in suburban Bandra to her son, Giridhari Melwani.
After her death, when Giridhari filed probate application in High Court to get the will validated, Veena, his brother’s wife, challenged it.
Veena contended that the flat had been purchased from the funds given by her late husband Chandru and the will was a bogus document, made to usurp the flat.
Veena’s lawyer pointed out that prior to the execution of the will, Giridhari would always sign in Urdu.
Two earlier ‘vakalat namas’ (letters authorising lawyers) and the flat’s nomination made by her, which bore her signatures in Urdu, was produced to prove the point.
However, Justice Roshan Dalvi said in the judgement early this month that this was not too significant, “Since Urdu is a better known language, she could have signed those papers in Urdu.”
“That would not prevent her from signing her own will in Gurumukhi,” the judge said.
