SC to proceed cautiously on challenges to Hindu Succession Act provisions

The Supreme Court has said it will move cautiously on challenges to provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, stressing the need to balance women’s inheritance rights with Hindu social structure. It referred petitions on Sections 15 and 16 to mediation.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has observed that it would move cautiously while examining challenges to provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and that it would be wary of shattering the Hindu social structure and its basic tenets that have been in existence for thousands of years.

A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan was hearing petitions challenging certain provisions of succession under the 1956 Act.

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“Do not demean the structure of the Hindu society that we already have. As a court, we are putting you to caution. There is a Hindu social structure and you do not bring it down… We do not want our judgment to break something that has been there for thousands of years,” the bench observed.

The top court said that while women’s rights were important, there had to be “a balance between social structure and giving rights to women.” The bench referred the parties before it to the Supreme Court’s mediation centre to explore settlement pending consideration of the broader issues.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that the provisions under challenge were exclusionary and discriminatory against women. Sibal said women could not be denied equal inheritance rights simply because of traditions.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, defended the Act as “well-crafted” and alleged that the petitioners were seeking to “destroy the social structure.” The issue for consideration before the top court are Sections 15 and 16 of the Hindu Succession Act, which govern the devolution of property of a Hindu women dying intestate, or without a will.

According to Section 15 of the Act, when a Hindu woman dies intestate, her property devolves to her husband’s heirs first before her own parents.