New Delhi: Supreme Court heard a petition on Tuesday alleging sections of the Hindu Succession Act are unconstitutional and violate gender equalityโ. The petition was heard by SC at a time debate around the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is largely focused on gender injustice perceived to be prevalent in the personal laws of minority communities.
The Centre has been given four weeks to respond.
The petition states, โThe court should intervene on behalf of Hindu women because while society is moving towards gender equality, the Hindu Succession Act discriminates based on gender.โ
The petition was filed by Kamal Anant Khopkar. Khopkarโs petition was heard by a three-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Bela Trivedi.
The plea points to โdeeply rooted patriarchal ideologyโ in the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act and spotlights how the husbandโs family comes first in the line of inheritance even before the dead womanโs own parents.
As per the petition, the provisions in the Hindu Succession Act, manage to retain property largely within the male lineage.
โIt is irrelevant weather the personal law was established on the basis of practice or religion or if it is codified or notโฆ If it violates gender equality, it can be challenged,โ the petitioner said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.