People's Democracy

 Women’s Organisations Demand End To Mitakshara System

MEETING the union law minister at New Delhi, on January 18, a delegation of national organisations of women made an appeal for comprehensive reforms to ensure equal property rights for women. The delegation comprised Brinda Karat and Kirti Singh (AIDWA), Primila Loomba (NFIW), Mary Khemchand (YWCA), Sadhana (CWDS), and Husna Subhani and Janaki Devi  (JWP).

The delegation congratulated the law minister for his initiative for the much-awaited reform to include women as co-parceners under the Hindu Succession Act and to give women equal right for division of property. Ever since the sabotage of the Hindu code reform in 1956, women have been denied equal rights as co-parceners to ancestral property. The delegation therefore hailed the proposed reform as a step forward. The delegation, however, pointed out certain infirmities in the bill. The delegation pointed out that the proposed amendment that “married daughters” would be excluded from the purview of the amendment is violative of the earlier section of making females co-parceners. The minister called for the papers and, after studying them, agreed that there was an error in the draft, which would have to be corrected. He assured the delegation that the rights of married daughters with prospective effect would be protected by deletion of the ambiguously worded section.

The delegation further pointed out that the entire Mitakshara system is an anachronism, based on inequalities at different levels between men and women, between elder and younger sons, between heirs of the deceased and so on. The Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) is used mainly for tax benefits and that too only by an insignificant number of people. The delegation urged the law minister to take the logical step of reform by deleting the clause in the Hindu Succession Act (HSA) that protects the Mitakshara system. Equally important, the proposed amendments have a grave weakness in that they do not address the crucial issue of women’s equal rights to agricultural property. At present, under certain state laws as in Delhi, UP, Punjab and Haryana, women do not have the right to agricultural property and the laws in these states have overriding jurisdiction over the HSA. It is therefore necessary to make amendments in the HSA to ensure that agricultural property is also covered.

The delegation also urged the law minister to move a general clause to prevent discrimination against women in the wills made with regard to self- acquired property.

The law minister made a categorical commitment to remove the infirmities insofar as the issue of extension of the HSA to agricultural land is concerned.

The delegation has decided to approach all members of the Standing Committee of the ministry to ensure further steps for equal rights to women in property, as suggested in the memorandum. (INN)