Supreme Court upholds right to share in property of tribal woman’s heirs

The Supreme Court on Thursday (July 17, 2025) upheld the right of the legal heirs of a Scheduled Tribe woman to an equal share in their maternal grandfather’s ancestral property.

“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,” a Bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Joymalya Bagchi held.

The court said refusing a woman her right of share in a property only deepened gender discrimination.

The judgment was based on an appeal filed by the legal heirs who had sought the partition of a property belonging to their maternal grandfather.

The judgment authored by Justice Karol observed that customs too, like the law, could not remain stuck in time.

“Others cannot be allowed to take refuge in customs or hide behind them to deprive others of their right,” the court observed.

The lower courts had dismissed the plea by the legal heirs saying their mother had no right in the property of her father on the ground that Scheduled Tribes were not governed by the Hindu Succession Act. The trial court and the appellate court had held that there was no evidence that the children of a woman heir were also entitled to property.

The top court, allowing the appeal, said denying the woman’s heirs a share of their maternal grandfather’s property would violate their right to equality.