The right of a woman within the ancestral property under a hindu law has been greatly influenced by an amendment i.e. The Hindu Succession ( Amendment) Act, 2005.
After this amendment, that is after Amendment Act 2005, section 6 was amended and word ‘daughter’ was inserted meaning thereby that a daughter was included as coparcener and was given equal right as that of a son to inherit the ancestral property. Therefore a hindu woman is a coparcener right from the birth. Earlier women under hindu law did not have coparcenery rights in the ancestral property. The objective behind The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 was to remove gender discrimination with an ultimate goal to uplift the condition of the women in the spciety and to empower them.
Now, before going into any further details, it is important to understand what are the coparcenery rights? What is the meaning of coparcener in the ancestral property?
Basically coparcenery rights as far as women under hindu law are concerned or amendment, 2005 is concerned means a special kind of joint heirship in the property. Earlier only sons had this right but The Hindu Succession ( amendment) 2005 changed it 360 and a right is being provided to the girls born within the ancestral property.
Hindu girls have a right in the property which is equal to sons and also have a right to seek partition which was absent earlier and was only available to male members. It is further important to mention that the daughters not only acquired similar rights in the property but also the liabilities. The result is that the daughter is now at an equal footing as compared to his male members within the family.
After this amendment, the female acquires coparcenery right within the ancestral property right from the birth. She can seek a partition or a share within the ancestral property just like her brothers. It is pertinent to mention here that she can claim this right even if she was born before 2005, or the parents have unfortunately expired before 2005 but she cannot exercise this right where partition is already done before 2005 either by the arrangement of the parties or through the court.
What about self acquired property of parents?
The Hindu Succession ( amendment) act, 2005 does not provide any right in the self acquired property of the parents meaning thereby parents are free to transfer self acquired property either by will or gift or anything to any person and coparceners be it male or female heirs, cannot question the same. However, if the parents died intestate,then the female heirs can demand equal share as compared to male heirs.
Section 23
Section 23 was omitted by this amendment which has paved way for a right to seek partition by the female heirs. Section 23 forbidded female heirs to seek partition within the ancestral property. However, this section
has been omitted by the amendment and now consequently female heirs can demand partition.
Section 24
In addition to this, section 24 was also omitted which discriminated three categories of women related to the intestate.
Section 30
Section 30 was also amended and “disposed by him or her” was added in continuation of its objective to give women rights as imagined by the legislature.
Effect:
Females have now been given corparcenery rights in the ancestral property right from the birth. Now a daughter can also demand partition and has an equal right or liability in the property as that of a son. Parents if died intestate, the daughter will be having equal rights as that of the son. A daughter can demand partition even if she was born before 2005.
