The Supreme Court has taken an important stance on property disputes involving women. The court has urged all women who have no sons, daughters, or husbands to prepare wills during their lifetime to avoid potential future legal disputes between their parents and in-laws.
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The progress of women cannot be underestimated.
The apex court said that while enacting the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, Parliament may have assumed that women would not have self-acquired property, but the progress made by women in the last decades cannot be underestimated.
It is not fair that women’s property should go only to their husband’s heirs.
The Supreme Court noted that women in India, especially Hindu women, now possess substantial amounts of self-acquired property due to increased education, employment, and entrepreneurship. The court remarked that if such a woman dies intestate, leaving behind no husband, sons, or daughters, and her self-earned property passes solely to her husband’s heirs, this situation could create problems for her maternal family.
The Supreme Court made the observation while hearing a public interest litigation filed by a woman lawyer, Snidha Mehra, challenging Section 15(1)(b). A bench comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan made the suggestion while disposing of the case.
This decision is to protect the interests of the women of the country.
The bench said that we are saying this not only to protect the interests of the women of this country but especially to protect the interests of Hindu women, so that there is no further litigation in this regard.
Controversy over the Hindu Succession Act, 1956
According to the law, Section 15(1)(b) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 provides that if a Hindu woman dies intestate, her property passes to the heirs of her husband before her parents. The petition argued that this provision is arbitrary, violates Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution, and should be struck down.
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