The Supreme court has held that the term 'after' used in section 6(a) of Hindu Minority and…

The ruling was delivered in Vandana Shiva v Jayanta Bandhopadhyaya, heard with Githa Hariharan v Reserve Bank of India in 1999. The Court interpreted after the father in Section 6(a) of the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act as referring to his absence from caring for the child, rather than necessarily his death. A mother can therefore act as natural guardian during the father’s lifetime in the circumstances identified by the Court.