MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAME – RANU ANAND

CHOUHAN
MUMBAI ROLL NO.-
2018043
SUBJECT-
FAMILY LAW II

HINDU WIDOW AND THEIR PROPERTY RIGHTS

INTRODUCTION

Right to property is a legal right under Constitution of India and it should be given to each
and every citizen. Hindu women’s property rights have been restricted from the earliest time
in Indian culture. Hindu widows in earlier times subject to various discrimination especially
with regard to property inheritance. In the ancient text Manusmritis, Manu writes: “Her father
protects her in childhood, her husband protects her in youth and her sons protect her in old
age; a woman is never fit for independence.” But current Indian Society has been evolving in
terms of how widows are treated. This paper primarily focuses on evolution of Hindu widow
rights over the last few decades.

The rights of Hindu widow are different in Dayabhaga and Mitakshara school of Law. In the
Mitakshara system, the widow is entitled to inherit her deceased husband’s property only
when he dies leaving behind no male issue and he dies separated from his brothers. Under the
Dayabhaga system, the widow’s inheritance is not determined by whether he died separated
or united. In Dayaghaga, husband died leaving a widow, and brother the widow succeeded to
the property as his heir but she being a female did not take the property absolutely.
Dayabhaga school of law dilute the effect of patriarchy and confer property rights to widow.

According to the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, all rights and interests which any
widow may have in her deceased husband's property by way of maintenance, or by
inheritance, shall cease upon her re-marriage. As a result, there was a lot of misuse of this
law. Plenty of Hindu families denied widows their rights on remarriage, even when
customary law allowed her to retain possession of property. Today, under Hindu Succession
Act, 1956, widows who choose to remarry do have a right on their deceased husband’s
property.

In earlier periods people were least bother about women rights and freedom. They follow the
religious text, pertinent to transfer of property to Hindu widows. But the time passes women
become educated and started realising their basic human rights. Therefore, now women are in
better stage than the ancient period.

RESEARCH QUESTION:-

 How the Property rights of the Hindu widow changed over the periods of time in context of
Mitakshara and Dayabhaga School of law?
 How the rights of the women changed when she remarry?

LITERATURE:-

 Primary Sources
1. The Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act, 1937.
2. The Hindu Succession Act 1956.
3. The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856.
4. Report No. 204, Law Commission of India, February 2008.
5. Thankam v. Rajan [AIR 1999 Kerala 62].
 Secondary Sources
1. R.K. Pandey, Status of Remarried Hindu Widow, Eastern Book Company,
(1973) 1 SCC (Jour) 25.
2. Debarati Halder and K. Jaishanker, Property Rights of Hindu Women: A
Feminist Review of Succession Laws of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
India, Cambridge University Press, Volume 24, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 663-687.