Stepsons Cant Be Heirs Under Hindu Law 

The Bombay high court has ruled that only blood relations can claim to be heirs and demand a share of family property. In a ruling on a property dispute, Justice Roshan Dalvi denied a claim by Albert D Souza saying he did not have the rights of a biological son. His his petition was dismissed.
He is not related to his stepfather, by blood. He is, therefore, not related to the deceased (Mary) by blood, held the judge.
If the child has no relationship with the deceased by blood, full or half, he would not be entitled to be called an heir and consequently, to succeed to his estate, said 
Under the Indian Succession Act, a person claiming to be an heir must have a blood relationship with the deceased. For the purpose of succession, a person must be shown to be related to the deceased by full blood or half blood. Indian law says that two persons are said to be related to each other by full blood when they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife. They are related to each other by half blood when they descend from a common ancestor but by different wives.
The court referred to Supreme Court judgments, which had said that even under the Hindu Succession Act, stepsons cant get rights of a son.
(Names of family changed to protect identities) 

Times of India, New Delhi, 04-10-2010.