Legal Principle In the law of evidence a person missing for long and not heard of for over seven yea...........

Indian Evidence Act (IEA) 1872 Others

Legal Principle: In the law of evidence, a person missing for long and not heard of, for over seven years is presumed to have died.

Facts: A, B and C are children of F and M. At the age of 20, A went out in search of a job and was notcontacting the family. All attempts to trace A by the family failed. Eight years after the death of the parents, B and C entered into a partition and took equal share in the property of F and M. One year after this, A returned home with his wife and two children and claimed his share in the property. Whether A’s claim is legally sustainable?

Since A was not heard of, for more than eight years, the legal presumption of death will apply andhence, he cannot claim a share in the property.

It was A’s duty to be in touch with the family at least once in a year. The failure of this duty will disentitlehim from claiming property.

A will succeed because he is a legitimate son of F and M.

B and C are legally bound to give 1/3 rd share of the property to A.

Explanation:

This is a direct principle application question. option 2 has extra information and 3 and 4 are neither closely related to the principle and nor are some exceptions, remaining only option 1 "Since A was not heard of, for more than eight years, the legal presumption of death will apply andhence, he cannot claim a share in the property."