Supreme Court: Allows Schedule Tribal Women Equal Succession Rights As Men.

Case Law:  Ram Charan and Others Versus Sukhram and Others.

Introduction:

The Supreme Court made the landmark judgement and ruled that Schedule Tribal Women have equal rights in Inherit Property. The Supreme held that denying rights to women will violate the fundamental rights under article 14 of the Indian Constitution (which guarantees equality for all) and also states that old Custom cannot be used to deny the inherent right in property. For protecting their fundamental rights the Judgement will become important for the Schedule Tribal.

Supreme Court upholds equal succession rights for Scheduled Tribal women, ensuring gender justice in property inheritance.

Background: 

The Case involved where the Appellant belonged to the Scheduled Tribe named Dhaiya, and shared the inherent rights of her maternal grandfather. However the Male member of the family Challenged the Claim stating that Schedule Tribal Women did not come under the Hindu Succession Act and Custom not permit women to share the inherit property.

Appellant applied in the court that Gond Custom involved the equal property distribution whereas. The trial court, first appellate court, and High Court held that the Appellant Failed to form a female heir is also entitled to property.

Therefore, the Appellant appealed to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court View on Schedule Tribal Women Equal Succession Rights As Men:

The Supreme Court ruled that Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 excluded the Schedule Tribe Women and next Option is the Custom which the Party Failed to establish.

While the Court citing the Case of The Chhattisgarh High Court  Mst. Sarwango and others v. Mst. Urchamahin and others held that “if both the parties have failed to prove any law of inheritance or custom prevailing in their Gond caste then the Courts are required to decide the rights according to justice, equity and good conscience in terms of Section 6 of the Act”

When both law and custom fail to examine then we have to look from the view of  justice, equity and good conscience. These principles are Validation in the Central Provinces Laws Act, 1875, Section 6. While applying this principle, courts have to be mindful.

Justice Karol noted that in prohibitive custom, Equality must Dominate.Denial of the inherent right to Tribal Women and their heir because of custom and gender will violate the constitutional right. 

The Court said, “In the present case, a woman or her successors, if the views of the lower Court are upheld, would be denied a right to property on the basis of the absence of a positive assertion to such inheritance in custom. However, customs too, like the law, cannot remain stuck in time and others cannot be allowed to take refuge in customs or hide behind them to deprive others of their right”

The Court also observed that Denying the Dhaiya women right of share in her father’s property not only violates her right but also her heir rights too.

Refusing the right of succession in absence of custom violate article 15(1) , Articles 38 and 46 in which court said:

“There appears to be no rational nexus or reasonable classification for only males to be granted succession over the property of their forebears and not women, more so in the case where no prohibition to such effect can be shown to be prevalent as per law. Article 15(1) states that the State shall not discriminate against any person on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. This, along with Articles 38 and 46, points to the collective ethos of the Constitution in ensuring that there is no discrimination against women.”,

Hence, the Supreme Court gave the landmark verdict by granting rights to the Tribal Women in inherent property.

Conclusion:

The Supreme Court of India delivered the landmark judgement by allowing the Schedule Tribal Women rights of succession by protecting their Article 14 , 15 , 38, 46 also stated that old custom cannot deny the right of inheritance and clarified that when there is no law and custom present in case court have to apply the three principles of justice, equity and good conscience to serve the justice and protect the fundamental rights to individuals.

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