New Delhi: The Supreme Court has sought a response from the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on a PIL seeking a direction to erase gender-discriminatory laws in the two states.
The matter came up on Wednesday before a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra. The plea contended that these laws of the two states, disentitle a daughter from her share in parental property after marriage and a widow from her share in the matrimonial property after her remarriage.
The PIL has been filed by Shweta Gupta who was represented before the apex court by advocate Kishan Chand Jain. The petitioner has made three respondents in her plea: the Union of India, the Uttar Pradesh government, and the Uttarakhand government.
The petitioner’s counsel argued that the apex court in 2019 entertained a petition seeking similar relief regarding gender-discriminatory provisions in the Hindu Succession Act. After hearing submissions, the apex court, in its order, said: “Issue notice, returnable in four weeks”.
The plea contended that under Section 109 of UP Revenue Code, 2006, when a female (who has inherited land from her father) dies, her land stands devolved upon the heirs of her husband, rather than her heirs. The plea said similarly, that the provision disentitled a daughter's ownership right over land inherited from her father after marriage.
The plea said the same provision also provided that if a widow remarries, she stands divested from land inherited from her deceased husband as it would go to the next surviving heir of the last male holder of the land.
