‘Feminine pronoun’ used to describe Sunjay Kapur in will: Actor Karisma Kapoor’s children tell HC

Actor Karisma Kapoor’s children told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that their late father, Sunjay Kapur, could not have drafted the purported will — as it uses a “feminine pronoun” to describe him.

The counsel appearing for Samaira and Kiaan Raj made the submission before Justice Jyoti Singh during the hearing of their plea challenging their father’s purported will of his assets, which is reportedly worth Rs 30,000 crore.

The counsel said that there was a fundamental question that whether the will was signed by Sunjay Kapur, or by a woman in the declaration clause.

“Author of the clause could not have been Sunjay Kapur. Clauses in question are not the handiwork or the design of the testator Sunjay Kapur. The female form of testator is used... Testator is now a ‘she’. This is an absurdity. It shows the audacity which people have to present something like this in court. In short Sunjay Kapur has signed this Will as a woman,” the counsel told the court.

He added that there was no explanation of the mistake. “Unless Sunjay with an unsound mind incapable of reading... (He) could have never signed this. It is replete with feminine pronoun. It says her last will, her witness and her presence. The feminine pronoun is used in most crucial parts to describe him. When you get ‘she and her’ in four places, it is incredulous that Sunjay Kapur with all his knowledge could have drafted this,” the counsel said.

He added that the children’s step-mother, Priya Kapur, and other defendants were silent on who has prepared the will.

“What is so secretive about it that you don’t want to give it to the beneficiaries? Our case is very clear that this is not the testator’s will and in such cases burden of discharging every suspicious circumstance is on them (defendants)... Here we have a fundamental question if the Will was signed by testator or by a woman in the declaration clause,” he added.

The court will resume hearing in the matter on Wednesday.

The children have questioned the authenticity of the purported will. On Monday, their counsel questioned the authenticity of the will, claiming that Sunjay had written his daughter’s address wrong and misspelt his son’s name in multiple places in it.

The children, on October 9, accused Priya of being “greedy”, while terming her “Cinderella stepmother” before the court.

The court on September 26 allowed Priya Kapur to file the list of his assets in a sealed cover and suggested that the parties involved in the property dispute before it not to share details with the media.

On October 9, the counsel claimed that Priya had received 60 per cent of the assets and her son about 12 per cent. “She is also getting 75 per cent of the Trust,” he claimed.

The counsel told the court that there was “enough evidence” to conduct a probe, while accusing Priya Kapur of forgery. He made the submission while seeking the status quo on the movement of assets of Sunjay Kapur, who died on June 12.

“She is a nominee, and she holds the assets. How far the forgery of documents goes will have to be unravelled, and there is enough evidence to conduct a probe,” the counsel told the court.

He further said that Priya was in “glaring hurry” to restrict the children’s shares. “This is a Cinderella stepmother,” he said.

The counsel questioned the authenticity of the will, saying that prima facie Sunjay Kapur did not consult an advocate while making the current will, and claimed that it was “not possible that he would not have consulted an advocate before creating a will and bequeathing such a large estate”.

He added that the executor of the will got it one day before its reading. The counsel claimed that the will was modified when Sunjay Kapur was on a holiday with his son, adding that the person who forged the document got rewarded.

The court will resume hearing the matter on October 13. On September 10, the high court asked Priya Kapur to give a list of his assets to the court.

Priya Kapur, meanwhile, has informed the court that they have already received Rs 1,900 crore from the family trust.