Feminist Justice by Way of Women’s Rights to Property: An Indian Approach After Independence

Abstract

In India, for ages Hindu women faced discrimination within the families w.r.t their property rights. Before independence women’s property was divided into 2 heads, stridhan & woman’s estate. Some restrictions were there on her power of disposal, if she was a married woman. The old law of stridhan and woman’s estate was abolished by Hindu Succession Act,1956. The amendment made in the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 in year 2005 has granted equal rights to daughters as that of son in the Hindu joint family. However, there were problems with the interpretation of this provision, which has been clarified by the Supreme Court in recent judgement of 2020. This paper aims to study the women’s property rights before independence and what loopholes were present in those rights. The paper also studies the laws present today which provides woman equal share in the property. The paper highlights the judicial developments in the Hindu Succession Act, where laws have been interpreted by the Court to grant Indian women equal share in the property as that of men.