Is a Uniform Succession Law Necessary in India?

Is a Uniform Succession Law Necessary in India?

The present Succession Law in India is gender-biased and religion-biased which violate the fundamental rights of equality and protection from discrimination. A PIL is filed demanding the uniform succession law, to which the Supreme Court accepted the argument in favour of a uniform civil code.

The Supreme Court on 11 March 2021 sought the stand of the Union Government regarding the requirement of gender and religion-neutral uniform law of succession conferring the inheritance rights to the citizen of India without any discrimination.

What is succession?

There are two kinds of succession - intestate succession and testamentary succession, they are explained as -

Intestate succession is the process of inheriting the property following the law of succession of the religion of the deceased person. This occurs when a person dies without writing a will.

Testamentary Succession is the process of inheritance as per the will written by the deceased person before his death.

This is the rule followed under the Hindu Succession Act, whereas the Muslims follow their personal laws in the case is intestate succession and the Christian and Paris follow the provision under the Indian Succession Act.

What non-uniformity does succession law have?

As per the Hindu Succession Act, if a Hindu male dies intestate, the property shall be interpreted by the close relatives, knows as class I heirs consisting of 16 members including wife, children, parents, sibling etc. If none of the class I heirs are alive or expresses in writing that he or she is not interested to inherit, it shall go to the class II heirs. If none of the class II heirs is alive or not interested, then it shall go to the class III heirs.

The individuals about the deceased person are categorised and listed in the Hindu Succession Act.

Whereas, under the Act, if the Hindu female dies, the property shall go to the husband and children. In absence of these persons, the property shall be inherited by the legal heir of the husband.

Here is the contrary to that for a male the parents and siblings are inheriting the property of the deceased as class I heir but in the case of females, her parents and siblings are not getting similar rights.

In Muslim Personal Law, the property is divided at a ratio of 2:1 between the son and daughter of the deceased. Here, the son is getting more preference than the daughter. Moreover, the childless widow shall receive only one-fourth of the property, and a Muslim widow with children and grandchildren shall receive only one-eighth of the deceased husband's property.

Whereas, for Christian and Parsi, the property shall be inherited by the legal heirs who belong to the same domicile. The question arises here regarding the spouse of the Christian and Parsi, if married to some other religion.

Though India is a secular country, the succession laws are not equal -either based on gender or based on religion. A PIL has been filed before the Supreme Court of India to bring Uniform Civil Law.

What Does the PIL for the Uniform Succession Law constitute?

The petition of Uniform Succession Law was filed by the BJP leader Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay with the aim to seek direction from the Law Commission to examine the laws related to inheritance and succession and prepare a report on 'uniform grounds of succession and inheritance' for all the citizens, to secure justice, equality and dignity of women.

The PIL stated that the gender-biased, religion-based succession and inheritance laws are unconstitutional, as it is against the ethos of gender equality and gender justice. Also, it is against the dignity of women and not complying with the guarantee of life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Article 14,15,21 and 44 of the Indian Constitution and the international convention guarantees gender-neutral and religion-neutral laws to be implemented, but even after 73 years of independence, the Centre failed to comply with this.

The gender-biased and religion--biased succession laws are denial of equal rights to women and against the secular spirit of the Constitution of India.

What is the opinion of the Supreme Court on the PIL filed for Uniform Succession Law?

Along with the PIL explained above, three more PIL were filed before the Supreme Court, to which it agreed that the law of the land must adopt a Uniform Civil Code to endeavour to secure the citizens a uniform civil code through the territory of the country.