In every sphere of life, women have the same and equal rights as men. In the early days, Indian women did not have any rights over the property. In contemporary society, married Indian women had limited rights to their parental property, but in case of widows, they did not have any rights over their husband’s property. But at present, the Constitution has enforced the law on women’s property rights. Recently, the Government of India has taken many steps for the progress of women in which the property rights law of Indian women is significant.    

For Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain women:

According to the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, the property rights of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain women were fragmented. The laws were different depending on whether a woman is a daughter, mother, widow, married or unmarried, etc. The Hindu Succession Act of 1956 speaks of maintaining gender equality. Prior to that, only the son had the right to ancestral property. But the amendment of the act gives the property rights to the girls also and it states that the daughters can only enjoy this right till marriage, after marriage they will be considered as members of their husband’s family. The Supreme Court re-amended the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and considered equal rights of daughters and sons in property rights irrespective of gender or marital status. In the case of a deceased, both his daughter and son inherit the property. Through this law, women can donate, sell or gift their acquired property to anyone.

For Muslim women:

In earlier days, Muslims society was governed by the customary law, which was restored by Shariati law in 1937 which helped to strengthen the condition of Muslim women. Under this law, both husband and wife can inherit property and it allows unmarried daughters as heirs. This law ensures the rights of divorced and unmarried women. Under this law, an unmarried girl can stay at her parental house life long, and she is entitled to inherit half of the family property.  A divorced Muslim woman can enjoy the right to inherit one-fourth portion of her husband’s property if they have no child and she can inherit up to one-eighth if she has a child. A widow or a divorced mother also has the right to become heir one-sixth portion of the deceased child’s property. 

For Christian and Percy women:

Under the Legislature Act of 1925, everyone is equal on the basis of gender. According to Christian law, daughters and sons will have an equal share of their parental property. If there is an offspring, then a widowed Christian woman gets one-third of her husband’s property, and if there is no ancestor, then the woman will inherit the entire property. According to the Percy clause of the law, son and daughter both are the same and both can inherit their parental property equally.

Conclusion:

The present Indian society has come out of its male-driven ideology and the status of women in society is increasing day by day. In the present scenario, women are involved with many high profiled jobs and managing everything. Therefore, the “property rights act for Indian women” has given a boost towards improving society.