A man who married a five-year-old girl in his native India when he was 13 in 1930 is at the centre of UK High Court litigation nearly 30 years after his death.

Kashinath Bhusate's children from that first marriage are embroiled in a dispute relating to his estate, which was valued at nearly £140,000 when he died.

His third wife and widow Shantabai Bhusate has made a claim for "reasonable" provision under inheritance legislation.

A judge has ruled she can pursue the claim even though Mr Bhusate died aged 72 in 1990.

The judge, Chief Master Matthew Marsh, analysed evidence at a recent High Court hearing in London, and outlined detail about Mr Bhusate's life in a ruling published on Thursday.

Mr Bhusate married his first wife in India on Christmas Day 1930 when she was five and he was 13, said the judge.

He travelled to the UK in the 1950s, settled in the Barnet area of north London, and worked as a messenger at the Indian High Commission in London.

His first wife died in 1971, a second marriage ended in divorce, and he married Mrs Bhusate in 1979, when he was 61 and she was 28 and living in India.

Mrs Bhusate, who is now 67, asked the judge for permission to pursue a claim for provision.

The judge said a statutory deadline for such a claim expired more than 25 years ago.

Some of Mr Bhusate's children from his first marriage objected and wanted the claim blocked The judge said Mrs Bhusate's application was "very unusual" if not unprecedented, but she had explained the reasons for the delay.

She had left school and 11, was unsophisticated, and unable to speak, write or read English when her husband died.

The judge said "gender and cultural" issues had weighed against her.

He said Mrs Bhusate had "demonstrated compelling reasons" why she should be allowed to proceed with her claim.

By Brian Farmer