Those days are gone when women in India faced discrimination in the matter of property ownership. In the earlier time, married women have lessor right to their parental property and widows mostly depended on the mercy of their sons.
The Hindu personal laws of 1956 (applying to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Jains) gave women rights to inheritances. However, sons had an independent share in the ancestral property, while the daughters’ shares were based on the share received by their father. Hence, a father could effectively disinherit a daughter by renouncing his share of the ancestral property, but a son would continue to have a share in his own right. Additionally, married daughters, even those facing domestic abuse and harassment, had no residential rights in the ancestral home.
But the time has taken a turn now, the government has been taking progressive measures to promote property holding among women like offering loans at concessional rates and keeping stamp duty charges lower for women are some such steps. Even the central government has been trying to empower women’s property right by various amendments made in legislation.
Hindu Succession Act 2005(Amendment) makes women the absolute owner of their property. Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, declares, “Any property possessed by a female Hindu, whether acquired before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be held by her as full owner thereof and not as a limited owner.” There is a misconception that women enjoy only limited rights over the property besides numerous other restrictions and but not many women are aware of their rights.
A major part of the remaining challenges revolves around the implementation and enforcement of the law. Even in the stage where good law exists, women frequently do not enjoy their right to access and control productive resources. Implementation is too often hindered by socio-cultural norms and women have a lack of knowledge for their entitlement.
Land demands particular attention. The land is a key to a life with dignity and a basis of entitlement which can ensure an adequate standard of living and economic independence and therefore personal empowerment. Regardless whether the women is lives in a rural or urban setting, land right also have major implications for the achievement and enjoyment of her human rights such as rights to equality, food, health, housing, water, work, and education.
It is reported that just 1 percent of the world’s women actually own land. When resources compiled an approximation of the distribution of land by gender, they found it to be extremely unequal” because of increasing land pressure around the world, the phenomenon of land grabbing and even increasing commodification of land, some scholars have noted that the issue of women land rights are not only important today, it is likely to become increasing over time.
All of this trend have dire implications, especially for women who hold on land rights, know at best and who are the first to lose their claim on fertile soil.
In most Indian families, women do not own any property in their own names and do not get a share of parental property. Due to weak enforcement of laws protecting them, women continue to have little access to land and property. In India, women’s property rights vary depending on religion, and tribe, and are subject to a complex mix of law and custom, but in principle, the move has been towards granting women equal legal rights, especially since the passing of The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005.
In 1986, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Shah Bano, an elderly divorced Muslim woman, was eligible for alimony. However, the decision was opposed by fundamentalist Muslim leaders, who alleged that the court was interfering in their personal law. The Union Government subsequently passed the Muslim Women’s( Protection of Right Upon Divorce Act.
Similarly, Christian women have struggled over the years for equal rights in divorce and succession. In 1994, all churches, jointly with women’s organizations, drew up a draft law called the Christian Marriage and Matrimonial Causes Bill. However, the government has still not amended the relevant laws. In 2014, the Law Commission of India has asked the government to modify the law to give Christian women equal property rights.
In 2015, the Supreme Court too had said that the daughter would not get property rights if the father died before the amendment came into force. The latest verdict clarifies that the law is applicable to all property disputes filed before 2005 and pending when the law was framed. If the daughter had died before 2005, her children will be coparceners.
In-State of Maharashtra vs Narayan Rao AIR1985SC 1234, the Supreme Court for the position that when a female member who inherits an interest in the joint family property under section 6 of HSA files a suit for partition expressing her willingness to go out of the family she would be entitled to both the interest she has inherited and the share which would have been notionally allotted to her as stated in Explanation I to s 6 of the Act.”
In a judgment, the Supreme Court on February 2 held that under the Hindu Succession Act, daughters were entitled to an equal share in ancestral property, irrespective of the year they were born in.
A bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said the Hindu Succession Act 1956, as amended in 2005, holds that a daughter would be a coparcener (holding an equal share in the undivided property) in the family’s ancestral property since birth, having the same rights and liabilities as a son.
Amit Sharma & Rupal Taneja