Ram Charan Vs Sukhram 2025 INSC 865 - Tribal Woman - Right To Inheritance
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Constitution of India - Article 14 - Unless otherwise prescribed in law, denying the female heir a right in the property only exacerbates gender division and discrimination, which the law should ensure to weed out. [Context: The High Court and the Trial courts denied the claim of the appellants (legal heirs of a tribal woman Dhaiya) for partition of property inherited from their maternal grandfather, citing lack of evidence of custom and the inapplicability of the Hindu Succession Act to Scheduled Tribes - Allowing appeal, SC observed: In the present case, a woman or her successors, if the views of the lower Court are upheld, would be denied a right to property on the basis of the absence of a positive assertion to such inheritance in custom- 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 -Denying Dhaiya her share in her father’s property, when the custom is silent, would violate her right to equality vis-à-vis her brothers or those of her legal heirs vis-à-vis their cousin.]
Customs - Customs too, like the law, cannot remain stuck in time and others cannot be allowed to take refuge in customs or hide behind them to deprive others of their right. (Para 19)
Suggested Readings:
The Trial Court, First Appellate Court and Chhattisgarh High Court denied relief to legal heirs of a tribal woman and held that she is not entitled to any share in her father’s property.
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) July 17, 2025
Today #SupremeCourt allowed the appeal and observed that denying her the share, violates her… https://t.co/reE15Vfv0W pic.twitter.com/xax4UAJuZc
"Customs too, like the law, cannot remain stuck in time and others cannot be allowed to take refuge in customs or hide behind them to deprive others of their right."#SupremeCourtofIndia https://t.co/at9l78m391 pic.twitter.com/tSg2mGcZfv
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) July 17, 2025