{"id":390284,"date":"2026-07-14T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=390284"},"modified":"2026-07-14T10:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:15:41","slug":"supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Supreme Court:<\/span> In a significant ruling on the proof of customary law governing Oraon tribal succession, the Division Bench of <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Sanjay Karol*<\/span> and N.K. Singh, JJ. held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece&#8217;s husband as a <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> (resident son-in-law) under the recognised customary law of the Oraon tribal community to confer inheritance rights over ancestral property. The Court reiterated that the party relying upon a custom bears the burden of proving its existence, antiquity, certainty, and continuous observance, and that courts cannot recognise or enforce an unproved custom. Accordingly, finding that the respondents had failed to establish the alleged custom, the Court set aside the concurrent judgments of the trial court, the First Appellate Court, and the Jharkhand High Court, and allowed the appeal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Background<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The dispute arose over succession to ancestral property governed by the customary law of the Oraon tribe. The appellant claimed entitlement to the disputed property as the nearest male agnate after the death of the last male holder, contending that daughters had no right of inheritance under the applicable custom. The respondents, however, asserted title on the basis that the deceased landowner, who had no children, had taken his niece&#8217;s husband as his <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span>, entitling him to inherit the property. They also relied upon a deed described as a partition\/lease deed executed in their favour. The trial court dismissed the appellant&#8217;s suit, holding that the <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> had validly acquired rights over the property. The First Appellate Court and the Jharkhand High Court affirmed the decree, leading to the present appeal before the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Analysis and Decision<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court examined whether the respondents had successfully established the customary law on which their claim rested. Reiterating the settled principles governing proof of custom, the Court held that the party relying upon a custom bear the burden of proving its existence, antiquity, certainty, reasonableness, and continuous observance. Referring to Section <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001516793\" target=\"_blank\">48<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726934\" target=\"_blank\">Evidence Act, 1872<\/a> (IEA) and earlier precedents, the Court observed that customs cannot be presumed merely because they are pleaded and must be proved through cogent evidence, recognised public records, or consistent testimony of persons acquainted with the custom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Upon analysing the oral evidence, the Court found significant inconsistencies in the respondents&#8217; case regarding inheritance, partition, and the rights of daughters and <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamads<\/span>. While the evidence sufficiently established the existence of a custom permitting a <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> to inherit the property of his father-in-law, no evidence proved the distinct custom that an uncle-in-law could adopt his niece&#8217;s husband as a <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> and thereby confer inheritance rights. The Court further held that the courts below had misapplied the customary law without appreciating that the recognised custom contemplated adoption of a <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> only by the landowner or his widow, and not by an uncle-in-law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court also held that the alleged partition or lease deed did not confer title. If it was a lease deed, it could not create ownership rights; if it was a partition deed, it was ineffective because partition can take place only between persons having pre-existing shares in the property. Since the respondents failed to establish any valid title under customary law, the document was of no assistance to their case.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court further observed that although it ordinarily does not interfere with concurrent findings of fact under Article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0001574865\" target=\"_blank\">136<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink.aspx?q=JTXT-0002726967\" target=\"_blank\">Constitution<\/a>, interference is justified where such findings are based on a misapplication of law, unsupported by evidence, or are otherwise perverse. In the present case, the concurrent findings suffered from these defects as they were founded upon an unproved custom.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">The Court held that the respondents had failed to prove the customary law entitling an uncle-in-law to adopt his niece&#8217;s husband as a <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> for the purpose of succession. Relying on the established principles of Oraon customary law, the Court held that, in the absence of a validly recognised <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">ghardamad<\/span> or any other eligible male heir, the property would devolve upon the nearest male agnate. Accordingly, the Court set aside the judgments of the trial court, the First Appellate Court, and the Jharkhand High Court, decreed the appellant&#8217;s suit, and allowed the appeal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">[<span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #632423;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Bejla Oraon<\/span> v. <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Kali Das Oraon<\/span>, C.A. No.-008780-008780 &#8212; 2026, decided on 9-7-2026<\/span>]<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%; text-indent: 18pt; border: 2px solid black; border-radius: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; background-color: #DCDCDC;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000080;\">*Judgment Authored by: Justice Sanjay Karol<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p>Advocates who appeared in this case:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">For Petitioner(s):<\/span> Mr. Rajan Raj, Adv. Ms. Mohini Priya, AOR Ms. Sayesha Gambhir, Adv.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">For Respondent(s):<\/span> Mr. Vinod Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Ajit Kumar Bhagat, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Parasher,Adv. Mr. Anubhav, AOR<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">The Court placed reliance on well-established and acknowledged sources of the law as it prevails in the community which, at the cost of repetition, postulates that in the absence of a ghardamad or any other male heir directly related to the landowner, i.e. the male members of the family, the nearest male agnate will have the right in the property.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67512,"featured_media":390287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[109731,34779,109741,109740,109733,109745,77882,109743,109739,109728,109737,109725,109738,63535,5791,109744,109729,109721,109734,109722,109727,109735,109726,68610,109730,5363,43754,109742,109724,109736,109732,109746,109723],"class_list":["post-390284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-agnate-succession","tag-ancestral-property","tag-ancestral-property-succession","tag-burden-of-proving-custom","tag-customary-inheritance","tag-customary-inheritance-dispute","tag-customary-law","tag-customary-law-evidence","tag-customary-property-rights","tag-customary-succession","tag-customary-succession-rights","tag-ghardamad","tag-ghardamad-inheritance","tag-inheritance-rights","tag-jharkhand-high-court","tag-male-agnate-succession","tag-n-k-singh","tag-oraon-customary-law","tag-oraon-tribal-succession","tag-oraon-tribe","tag-proof-of-custom","tag-proof-of-customary-law","tag-resident-son-in-law","tag-sanjay-karol","tag-section-48-evidence-act","tag-supreme-court","tag-supreme-court-judgment","tag-tribal-customary-practices","tag-tribal-inheritance","tag-tribal-inheritance-customs","tag-tribal-property-dispute","tag-tribal-property-law","tag-tribal-succession"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SC | Uncle-in-law Cannot Induct Niece&#039;s Husband as Ghardamad Under Oraon Customary Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece&#039;s husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece&#039;s husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"886\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"590\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Apoorva\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Apoorva\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Apoorva\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9\"},\"headline\":\"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":769,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Oraon-customary-law.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"agnate succession\",\"Ancestral Property\",\"ancestral property succession\",\"burden of proving custom\",\"customary inheritance\",\"customary inheritance dispute\",\"customary law\",\"customary law evidence\",\"customary property rights\",\"customary succession\",\"customary succession rights\",\"ghardamad\",\"ghardamad inheritance\",\"Inheritance rights\",\"Jharkhand High Court\",\"male agnate succession\",\"N.K. Singh\",\"Oraon customary law\",\"Oraon tribal succession\",\"Oraon tribe\",\"proof of custom\",\"proof of customary law\",\"resident son-in-law\",\"Sanjay Karol\",\"Section 48 Evidence Act\",\"Supreme Court\",\"Supreme Court Judgment\",\"tribal customary practices\",\"tribal inheritance\",\"tribal inheritance customs\",\"tribal property dispute\",\"tribal property law\",\"tribal succession\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Case Briefs\",\"Supreme Court\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/\",\"name\":\"SC | Uncle-in-law Cannot Induct Niece's Husband as Ghardamad Under Oraon Customary Law\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Oraon-customary-law.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9\"},\"description\":\"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece's husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Oraon-customary-law.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Oraon-customary-law.webp\",\"width\":886,\"height\":590,\"caption\":\"Oraon customary law\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/14\\\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"SCC Times\",\"description\":\"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9\",\"name\":\"Apoorva\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Apoorva\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/author\\\/scc-editor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SC | Uncle-in-law Cannot Induct Niece's Husband as Ghardamad Under Oraon Customary Law","description":"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece's husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court","og_description":"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece's husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/","og_site_name":"SCC Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/","article_published_time":"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":886,"height":590,"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Apoorva","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Apoorva","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/"},"author":{"name":"Apoorva","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9"},"headline":"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court","datePublished":"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/"},"wordCount":769,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.webp","keywords":["agnate succession","Ancestral Property","ancestral property succession","burden of proving custom","customary inheritance","customary inheritance dispute","customary law","customary law evidence","customary property rights","customary succession","customary succession rights","ghardamad","ghardamad inheritance","Inheritance rights","Jharkhand High Court","male agnate succession","N.K. Singh","Oraon customary law","Oraon tribal succession","Oraon tribe","proof of custom","proof of customary law","resident son-in-law","Sanjay Karol","Section 48 Evidence Act","Supreme Court","Supreme Court Judgment","tribal customary practices","tribal inheritance","tribal inheritance customs","tribal property dispute","tribal property law","tribal succession"],"articleSection":["Case Briefs","Supreme Court"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/","name":"SC | Uncle-in-law Cannot Induct Niece's Husband as Ghardamad Under Oraon Customary Law","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-14T05:30:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9"},"description":"Supreme Court held that an uncle-in-law cannot induct his niece's husband as a ghardamad to confer inheritance rights undercustomary law of Oraon tribe and reiterated that customary law must be strictly proved.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.webp","width":886,"height":590,"caption":"Oraon customary law"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2026\/07\/14\/supreme-court-oraon-customary-law-ghardamad-inheritance-rights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Uncle-in-law cannot make niece\u2019s husband a \u201cGhardamad\u201d to claim inheritance rights under Oraon customary law: Supreme Court"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/","name":"SCC Times","description":"Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/288d814d0864b57168e08daa1940a1c9","name":"Apoorva","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/549edb3ed2c7046a0c504583cf71db32c50251c1260a6331b2cc2973e80b0e91?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Apoorva"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/author\/scc-editor\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Oraon-customary-law.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67512"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390284"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390286,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390284\/revisions\/390286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}