But the initial euphoria has given way to pain as his two sons have moved the courts over the issue. “I had given the land to my daughters to purge myself of a moral debt but have been dragged to court over the matter,” Sunar rued. [break]
Buddhi Ram, 86, had given two kattha each to two of his daughters and one kattha each to four others a year ago. But his sons Tek Bahadur and Lok Bahadur filed a case seeking return of the land apportioned to their sisters, within a month.
The octogenarian is now pleading with judges for his prerogative to give away his hard-won property to his own daughters. Not that he has neglected his sons either. He has given six kattha to elder son Tek Bahadur and four kattha to Lok Bahadur.
“ And after my death they will also get 14 kattha that I have kept for myself. But they have moved the courts, hurting their sisters and their old father,” Buddhi Ram said with misty eyes.
The sisters are also aggrieved by the behavior of their brothers. “They have treated us very mean. They said we have to be their spouses to get a share of the property,” eldest sister Rithu said. “Is it a crime to accept a gift given by one´s parents?” she asked. She said the brothers have been giving trouble to their other sisters as well.
“My younger brother Tek Bahadur and his wife have beaten me and my husband up many times. He once struck my husband with a plow while working in the fields. I have escaped on many occasions by locking myself inside a room,” added another sister, Indira.
Their mother Dhansara is devastated by the attitude of the sons toward their own sisters. “Our daughters and their husbands have been helping us in our daily chores till now and we decided to give them some land to purge our conscience for accepting their help. But now we have been humiliated by our sons,” Dhansara lamented.
She said her daughters had raised the younger sons and worked hard to ensure their education despite being illiterate themselves. “And now they are making an issue out of giving a kattha of land to their sisters,” she complained.
Legal experts claim that under the section of the Muluki Ain (Law of the Land) relating to donations and bequests it is all right to give one´s property to one´s daughters.
“It is in keeping with the law to give property to daughters. There is no reason to make it a big issue,” advocate Krishna Bahadur Hamal opined. The brothers Tek and Lok Bahadur could not be reached for their comments.
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