On August 11, 2020, a three-judge bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra of Supreme Court ruled that daughters have equal rights as that of sons on parental property. They shall remain coparcener throughout their life.
Highlights
The judgement said that the daughters have equal rights in parental property as that of son. This includes in cases where the father died before the enactment of Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. The Judgement also said that the according to Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, the status of coparcener on the daughter born before or after amendment in the same manner as that of the son.
Coparcener
The term coparcener is a person who assumes legal rights in parental property by birth only. According to the judgement, a daughter is a now a coparcener as well.
Major Change
In 2015, the Supreme Court had pronounced that the rights under the amendment of Hindu Succession Act, 1956 is applicable only to living daughters. However, in the recent judgement, the apex court pronounced that “a daughter always remains a loving daughter”.
Hindu Succession Act, 1956
The act codifies laws related to intestate or unwilled succession among Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. It provides a uniform and comprehensive system of inheritance and succession. It was amended in 2005. Under the amendment, Section 6 was inserted.
Background
Till 2005, the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was biased against women. Only after the amendment in the act, equal rights were awarded to daughters in their fathers’ ancestral property.
Under the act, the Hindu women can inherit all types of property. This includes both movable and immovable property. There are two ways a woman can inherit property under the law
- If someone leaves a property through Will. This is called Inheritance through Will
- When there is no will, then the inheritance is achieved through Succession.
Key points of the act
- Daughters have same rights to inherit their mother’s property as that of their son. They inherit equally.
- The rights of a widow is same as that of a married woman to acquire property
- If a woman is divorced, she is not included under Class I heir of her husband. Class I heir of a Hindu male are mothers, daughters, widows and sons
- A mother inheriting from her son does not change based on whether she is widow, remarried or divorced.