WINA Stree Shakti Series
ON LEGAL BONDAGE
Women’s Struggle For Justice
WINA INDIA, 1985
WINA Stree Shakti Series
ON LEGAL BONDAGE:
Women’s Struggle For Justice
Published by WINA INDIA
Copies - 500
Printed in 1985
Printed at the National Printers
Bangalore
Cover design: Mohan Tellis, adapted from The Tribune -
Women and Graphics, Newsletter 21, 1982, New York.
© WINA INDIA
B/2 Polaris
29th North Road
St. Thomas Town
Bangalore 560084
Phone 91-80-548-1495
Email: winaindia@rediffmail.com
Contents
Foreward
J.B.
Tellis-Nayak
Introduction
Stella Faria
Mahlah and Her Sisters
Anna V. Alexander
Personal Law of Kerala Christians
Annie Thayil
Quarter-men in the Eyes of the Law
Anna V. Alexander
Women Battle for Equality
SAR News
A Christian Response
Aruna Gnanadason
Appendixes
Appendix I
: Excerpts from the Travancore Christian
Succession Act (1916)
Appendix II
: Two Cases of Childless Widows
Appendix III
: Further Reading
FOREWORD
J.B Tellis-Nayak
A cartoon in the Eve’s Weekly once pictured a huge law book with some
judges and lawyers standing on top of it, happily unconscious that were
crushing a woman under their weight.
Happily unconscious, can that be true? Are men
appropriating the lion’s share of the goods of this earth for
themselves unconsciously or deliberately?
Men have made the laws, written and interpreted
them, while women have taken care of the home and reared the children,
leaving the law- making to the men. If these laws made by men were
just, women need not been the case, women and girls have not only to
fight for their rights but have also to struggle to undo the injustice
hat has been legalized and has kept women in bondage.
This booklet is a modest attempt to point out
certain flaws which deny equality and justice to women. It shows how
brotherly love and affection get submerged in chauvinism and greed.
Also, how individual women have to struggle single-handedly to file a
case and fight it to the bitter end, in spite of discouragement and
public scorn.
It is hoped that this booklet On Legal Bondage
written in easy style will reach literate women and men. Hopefully,
groups of them will band together to study and analyse unjust laws and
make their daughters and sons conscious of this gross injustice.
Study, discussion and the sharpening of
consciousness will certainly stimulate the public to action that will
ultimately change unjust laws, as did courageous Mahlah and her sisters
in the Old Testament..
INTRODUCTION
Stella Faria
The United Nations Decade of women (1975-85) has helped to bring about
an organized movement for women’s equality. This has evidently
heightened women’s consciousness for a better understanding of their
rights and obligations. Whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Parsi or
Christian, Indian women have now realised that some of the state laws,
as well as personal laws of their respective religions are
discriminatory and need to be systematised and made fool-proof.
Despite legal and constitutional guarantees for
equality of the sexes, a contradiction is evident between the written
code and its actual implementation. The preamble to our Constitution
laudably affirms JUSTICE, EQUALITY, LIBERTY and FRATERNITY. Sorority
(Italic mine), but assumes metaphorical dimensions in its application
to women.
Upholding as we do our archaic, western oriented,
patriarchal, antifemale, Christian (?) laws, how do we understand or
rather interpret ‘equality’ or ‘justice’? The lived experience within
Christianity shows that women reel under the pressures of injustice and
inequality, perpetuated by the all too familiar first century, male
dominated culture! Yet AVA in her article “Mahlah and Her
Sisters” draws our attention to the Old Testament passage (Num.
27:1-11, 36:1-13) which tells us how these sisters fought and secured
justice for both men and women. In the New Testament, St Paul reminds
us,
“All baptised in Christ, you have
clothed yourself”
in Christ, and there are no
more distinctions
between Jew and Greek,
slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ
Jesus” (Gal 3:27-28)
To what extent do our patriarchal attitudes authenticate this baptismal
inheritance of oneness?
Though Christians in our country constitute a mere
2.6% of the total population, they have contributed tremendously to the
contry’s growth in education, health, social services, developmental
activities and several other fields. But what has been our
contribution to the battle for women’s legal right, vis-a-vis Christian
Laws that favour men? We speak about indigenisation,
inculturation, integration, and have gone so far as to Indianise the
liturgy. But no attempt is made to Indianise, abolish, or modify
outmoded principles that form the basis of Christian Succession Acts of
Travancore and Cochin respectively.
Ironically, our Indian Parliament which has passed
several Acts, and has amended many statutes to regulate personal laws
relating to marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption and succession,
has helped regressive forces by supporting personal laws of different
communities that are not only anti-women in their social and religious
practices, but are in gross violation of Art. 15(1) which states that
“the State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of
only religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.”
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights in examining these Acts
admitted that “the essential features of these laws is the assertion of
male domination over women.”
It is of utmost importance that both the State that
professes equality and secularism, and the Church that upholds the
principle of coequality, take steps to re-examine the issues that have
legalized inequality. In the light of guided Christian
principles, steps must be taken to redress the centuries old harm done
to women by ensuring a repealing of these archaic discriminatory laws,
and making way for a uniform law that is applicable to all,
irrespective of caste and/or geographical location. Inaction on
this score will weaken our credibility as christians. At the same
time serious doubts will be raised about our fidelity to our
Constitution, and the Directive Principles of State Policy, according
to which the State shall “endeavour to secure for the citizens a
uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India” (Art. 14).
The second Vatican Council had declared the ‘people
of God’ co-sharer in Christ’s mission. The new Code of Canon Law
has endeavoured (with some reservation) to rectify discrimination of
the sexes. But no attempt has been made to change the
indiscriminate Christian Personal Laws. Therefore, the onus to
initiate recommendations for a uniform Civil Code rests on every
Christian, particularly in view of the fact, that Christian women under
the purview of their own law may not be able to seek redressal under
the Indian Civil Code in matters like intestate succession.
Further, it may be of interest to note that the
State itself denies women belonging to the SC/ST and Backward classes,
their Constitutional rights in case of conversion to Christianity.
In September 1985 the Supreme Court has begun
hearing of Writ Petitions that challenge the validity of the Travancore
Christian Succession Act. Women’s organizations are demanding
that the Indian Succession Act be made applicable to all Indian
women. Are we prepared to support this cause for justice?
It is time we examine in a truely Christian spirit
the anomalies that render fifty percent of us unequal. Let us not
defeat our legitimate claim to our Indian-Christian heritage by denying
ourselves the benefits of our Constitutional guarantees. This
could be our contributions, not just to the end of the Women’s Decade,
but to the beginning of the Century for Equality, Justice and Freedom
from bondage, not only economic, political and social, but above all
LEGAL.
MAHLAH AND HER SISTERS
Anna V.Alexander
Fighters for Women’s Inheritance Rights in the Old Testament - Numbers
27:1-1111, 36:1-13 and Joshua 17:3-6.
Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah were their names: and they
earned for themselves a place in the Bible because they dared to
question the discriminatory laws by which they were governed.
Their father Zelophehad died in the wilderness
leaving behind these five daughters but no sons. When the time
came for Moses to allot plots of land to the children of Israel
according to their families and lineages, these sisters found that the
laws were unjustly harsh on (1) men who had no sons and (2) on
women.
The genealogical records of those days were entirely
patrilinea tracing lineage through the male line only. Thus a man
without a son to carry on the line, even if he had a dozen dawughters,
automatically became a non-person. His name would be dropped from
the family records and posterity would never hear of him. This,
the sisters felt, was a fate their father didnot deserve just because
he had no sons.
Zelophehad suffered further discrimination because
he died before the alloting of land could take place. he was thus
unable to claim his inheritance when lots were drawn for the land.
Another aspect of the law which spurred these
sisters to action was the total exclusion of women from the list of
successors to the property of a deceased man, even of one who had no
sons. All the sisters being unmarried, fatherless and
brotherless, the law made them also landless and consequently totally
destitute as they had no inheritance rights at all. Therefore,
these women must have been truly desperate and felt they had nothing to
lose by appealing to Moses, the highest authority in the Land.
Realizing that this problem needed divine guidance
for its solution. Moses took it straight to God. And God’s
answer was one which must have sent chills up every patriarchal spine
in the community. For God straightaway stated that the sisters’
demands were perfectly correct. He went on to command Moses to
give their father’s share of the family property to these women and to
give a new law to the people. This new law made two important
breakthroughs:
1. Daughters were now given some inheritance rights while before
they had none.
2. If a man died leaving no sons, the rights of his daughters to
his property now came first, superseding the rights of all his other
male relatives.
Thus at one stroke, daughters were given inheritance
rights which were second only to that of sons. A really stunning
victory for women’s rights in a society where women had no property
rights at all.
Such startlingly innovative changes were bound to
have repercussions. And, sure enough, in Numbers 36 we read of
the reaction they evoked from Zelophehad’s male relatives. Ever
concerned with keeping the family properly intact and secure within the
family group, these men (no doubt also feeling threatened by the
economic clout women now carried) found reason to complain about this
new law to Moses. Their plaint was that if these sisters
married outside their own family, the sisters’ share of the family
property would be taken away from their own family and added to that of
their husbands’ families. This was something that the family of
Zelophehad could not tolerate.
The preservation of family property within the
family being of primary importance, Moses had to find a solution which
achieved that end, while at the same time he had to be fair to the
women. The solution he found with God’s help was to forbit women
who inherited family property from marrying outside their own
families. However, they were free to marry whoever they wished
from within their own families. Thus, their freedom of choice was
not abolished but only curtailed, a freedom which, even today, the
majority of Indian women do not enjoy. Mahlah and her sisters
complied by marrying their own cousins. And they finally obtained
their land after they made one more representation, this time to Joshua.
What we should notice here is that the strings
attached to the law, while ensuring the preservation of family
property, also ensured that:
* Women who inherited property paid for their increased economic
independence with a reduction in their marital freedom and
* Women’s ownership of property did not alter their own status as
the property or chattel of their husbands.
Nevertheles, Moses’ law marked an important
mile-stone in women’s long and ongoing march towards equality. As
a result, the names of these five sisters as well as that of their
father occupy an honourable place in their family records. And,
the family of Manasseh, to which they belonged, became the only family
in Israel which went on record as having allotted land to its female
and male descendants. All these came about because five brave and
thinking women dared todemand their civil rights.
PERSONAL LAW OF KERELA CHRISTIANS
Annie Thayil
Kerela State has the largest number of Christians in
India. Before Kerala State was formed, it consisted of two
separate princely States - Travancore and Cochin. Christians in
each of these States were governed by the separate Acts of the
respective States, viz, the Travancore Christian Succession Act and the
Cochin Christian Succession Act which were passed nearly 65 years ago.
In Kerala, the father being the head of the house is
the sole propietor of the family property, and therefore can will, gift
or dispose of it as he deems fit. The question of rights arises
only in the event of his demise intestate.
According to the Travancore Christian Succession
Act, the daughter is entitled to a mere 1/4 of the son’s share or
Rs.5000/- which ever is less.
The Cochin Act is slightly better. The
daughter is entitled to 1/3 of the son’s share. Under the
Travancore Act, a widow is on par with her son with regard to life
estate only, while the Cochin Act provides for only 2/3 of the son’s
entitlement but with absolute rights.
The Indian Succession Act was passed in1925.
It was made applicable to all, except Hindus and Muslims who have their
own personal laws. According to this Act, daughters and sons get equal
shares. Of relevance is the 1956 case of Augusty versus
Aley. The facts of the case are very interesting.
Joseph, a rich priest died in Vykem, situated in
Travancore. The priest died intestate. Naturally, the
question of rights arose as he had two brothers and tow sisters.
To whom should his wealth go? The brothers contended that the
wealth of their brother Joseph, belonged to them. Their argument
was that their sisters were given their family share and married
away. But the sisters argued that the Indian Succession Act,
should be made applicable to them. The case came before the High
Court - a single bench. The decision went against the
women. It was Section 29 (2) of the Indian Succession Act that
caused the hitch, which stipulates that “this will be saved by any
other law for the time being in force.” Thus the case favoured
the brothers to the detriment of the sisters. It did not go up in
appeal. Twenty-eight years have since elapsed, but the law
continues to exist.
More recently a new case has come up. The
Kerala High Court naturally stood by the above mentioned 1956
decision. However it has gone up in appeal to the Supreme Court
whose decision is awaited.
There is also an odd angle to this Law. Kerala
State consists or three parts. Besides Travancore and Cochin, a
portion of the former Madras State, which was called Malabar,
also forms part of Kerala State. This particular portion cut
apart from Madras and added on to Kerela, is still governed by the
Indian Succession Act. Thus, a sizeable population of Christians
who belonged to Malabar enjoy the benefits of this Act, while all
the other Christians in the State have to suffer by the provisions of
the Travancore and Cochin Acts.
What Injustice!
There seem to be only two solutions: either
Parliament should strike down Section 29 (2) of the Indian Succession
Act: or the Kerela Assembly should repeal the Travancore and Cochin
Acts. Since neither has cared to move in this direction, the
Supreme Court is our only salvation.
Sons and daughters are born to the same
parents. Why should there be a difference in their rights to the
property of their parents? There is no justification for the
continuance of this law. We, the Christian Women of Kerela are
happy that the Law Commission has taken it up in our favour.
QUARTER-MEN IN THE EYES OF THE LAW
Anna Alexander
It may come as a surprise to many that Christian
women are among the worst affected by their Personal Laws. And,
those Christian women who had the misfortune to be born in areas which
used to form part of the former princely State of Travancore face even
further hardships on the basis of their place of birth. For,
these women continue to be governed by the Travancore Chritian
Succession Act of 1916 which should have been struck off the law books
long ago.
According to this outmoded and outrageously
discriminatory law, a daughter is entitled to receive only one-fourth
of the share of a son or five thousand rupees whichever is less, in the
event that her father dies without leaving a will.
In this connection it should be noted that during
these intervening decades the value of the rupee has dropped
drastically and five thousand rupees today is worth only a fraction of
its value in 1916. Also Travancore State no longer exists, the
bulk of it having become part of the present Kerala State.
What is most surprising is that these Christian
women of Kerala, who boast of belonging to the state which has the
highest literacy rate for women, who form the backbone of the nursing
and other key professions, and who include among their ranks the
first-ever woman judge in India, have tolerated this law so meekly and
for so long.
At long last, and better late than never, some
Christian women are protesting against this law, and they have carried
their fight up to the Supreme Court. Notable among thesw women
fighters for gender justice are Mary Roy,1 and Y-Theresammal, both of
whom belong to the teaching profession. Theresammal was invited
to relate her personal experiences at the national conference, “This is
only the beginning” (to mark the end of the U.N. Decade for women) held
at madras from 6-8 September 1985. Her story exposed the gross
injustice of this law and showed how it has rendered her powerless and
almost penniless.
Theresammal is a Roman Catholic, and she has four
sisters and one brother. She is the only unmarried member of her
family. She is a retired school teacher. Her father was a
wealthy man who gave generously to all his married daughters at the
time of their marriage. Theresammal, being unmarried, never
received as much as her married sisters, but lived with her parents
until their death. She claims that her father discouraged her
from joining a religious congregation.
Her troubles began upon the death of her father, for
he died withour leaving a will. Theresammal did not know the law
and neither did her father. so it was her utter astonishment that
her brother ordered her to leave the house after her father’s
death. This, Theresammal refused to do, insisting that as she was
unmarried and was her father’s child she had a right to stay on in the
parental home.
Despite severe harassment from hre brother and
sister-in-law (which has escalated following the death of her
mother). Theresammal, on the advice of her friends and
well-wishers, continues to live in her parents’ home. Her married
sisters who live nearby heolp her, though she hates to be a burden of
them. Now, aided by several concerned and supportive women has
filed a suit in the Supreme Court challenging the Travancore Christian
Succession Act of 1916.
Ironically enough, Theresammal does not belong to
Kerela State, but is a Tamil-Speaking citizen of the State of Tamil
Nadu! But, she too is governed by this lo because of her place of
birth, as she was born and continues to live in Kanyakumari District
which used to form part of the former princely State of Travancore and
hence comes under the purview of this law.
Theresammal’s case throws into sharp focus some
glaring and some not-so-glaring but nevertheless oppressive facets of
this highly discriminatory law:
1. It discriminates between women and men giving women a status
so inferior to that of men that they are reduced to being “quarter-men.”
2. If further discriminates between women and men, as the sons of
rich fathers inherit accordingly, whereas all daughters have the
ceiling of five thusand rupees clamped down on their shares however
rich their fathers may be. This is clearly highlighted in Theresammal’s
case, for,though her father was wealthy, she now lives in penury
while her brother enjoys all the wealth left by the father.
3. It discriminates on the basis of place of birth, as Christian
women born in other parts of India are governed by the Indian Christian
Succession Act of 1925 which ensures equal rights of inheritance to
daughters and sons alike.
4. It discriminates between married and unmarried daughters of
the same father. Married daughters are given gifts and a dowry2
at the same time of marriage which may exceed even a hundredfold the
five thousand rupees which is the maximum that an unmarried daughter
can claim, even though she may have taken care of her parents.
Thus, unmarried women like Theresammal are further oppressed for
choosing to say single. And this law puts a premium on the
married state, presurising women to get married and escape the
provisions of this law.
5. It helps perpetuate and aggravate the evil practice of
dowry. At the time of marriage, bridegrooms and their families
ensure that bridges get a fair (sometimes more than fair) share of
their fathers’ gifts be given (supposedly to the brides). Thus, a
father’s death, with or without a Will, cannot seriusly affect his
married daughter and her in-laws, as they would already have extorted
all they could at the time of marriage. In this manner this law
is neatly side-stepped and dowry made to seem almst respectable.
Those few Christian women like Theresammal who have
taken the bold step of challenging this law are to be highly
commended. Theirvictory will be a victory for all the thousands
of women and girls who, because of their sex, religion, marital status
and place of birth, are being oppressed and debased by this most
un-Christian law. Surely, our Creator could not have ensisaged a
creature who merited only a quarter of the rights and privleges of the
other when He created female and male human beigns in His own
image. For, did He not give them, both women and men, dominion
over all the earth and everything in it? (See Genesis 1:26-28).
WOMEN BATTLE FOR EQUALITY3
The supreme Court on September 4 began hearing a
batch of
writ petitions challenging the consitutional validity of the
Travancore Christian Succession Act, 1916, which excludes Syrian
Chrisian women from inheritance in the matter of succession to
the father’s property.
Several women’s organisations have intervened in the petitions which
are being heard by Chief Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice R.S. Pathak.
The women want that the secular Indian Succession
Act may be made applicable to them. They further contend that if
the view taken by the Madras and Kerala High Courts that section 29 (2)
of the Indian Succession Act saved discriminatory provisions in the
personal law should be declared unconstitutional.
For Mary Roy, a Syrin Christian woman from Kerala,
who dared to chalenging the legality of her community’s inheritance
laws in the Supreme Court back in 1983, it has been a lonely struggle
for equality. The few brave elderly women, who followed her
example and filed writs, were jeered at by their neighbours and
considered cranks.
The Travancore Christian Succession Act is
applicable only in those parts of Kerala which constitute the formaer
State of Travancore. Under the Act the daughter of a man who had died
interstate is excluded from inheriting her father’s property and is
entitled to only one-fourth of the share of the son or Rs. 5000,
whichever is less, the amount paid being known as “Streedhanom.”
The widow is entitled only to a life interest in the estate.
The Act is being challenging under Article 14 and 15
of the Consitution as being discriminatory both on the basis of sex and
residence since division of property, which fallsin the former state of
Cochin in Kerala or elsewhere in the country, is governed by different
Acts, even for Syrian Christians.
The lobby opposing any change in the inheritance law
is clearly very powerful. In 1958, Justice Krishna Iyer, then the
Law Minister of Kerala, drew up a Bill to change the inheritance law,
but the Bill was allowed to lapse. The Kerala Law Commission had
also suggestd amendments in the law but the Governmentdid not find it
practical to implement the changes “until there was a social awakening
among members of the community themselves.”
Principle of Equality
Ironically, legal experts feel that the women may
win their case, not on the principle of equality, which, if unheld,
would have far reaching implications for all religious denominations
with separate personal laws, but on the grounds that the Indian
Succession Act automatically repeals the Travancore Christian Succesion
Act.
Whatever be the decision of the Supreme Court, Ms.
Roy can take satisfaction in hat her once solidarity battle begun to
receive marginal support from the community. The All-India
Women’s Association, Kottayam, the All-India Council of Christian Women
Madras and several YWCAs have passed resolutions supporting the
struggle for the repeal of the Act. In February this year the
Marthoma Sabha, a prominent organisation of the community, passed a
similar resolution.
One of the Church’s Bishops, Paulose Mar Gregorios,
has also written a letter in favour of repealing the Act.
Educated and working women in Trivandrum have begun to back the writ
publicly.
A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO THE SUCCESSION
LAWS
Aruna Gnanadason
In response to the writ petitions filed by the
Institute for Development Education, Madras and Mary Roy, who have
challenged the constitutional validity of the Travancore Christian
Succession Act (1916) and the Cochin Christian Succession Act (1925),
the Kerala government has filed a counter affidavit in which they claim.
“............ it is worthwhile to repeat that the Government of Kerala
have not received any demand or proposal from the
Christian Community through any or their various organisations or
institutions for changing the personal law of Christians. Being
the Personal law of Christians, according to the
Government, it is desirable to bring in any legislation affecting the
Christian Community as a whole if concrete suggestions are not received
from the community than by imposing a law.”
The basic premise on which such an allegation is made is that the
Succession Laws are related to the Christian faith and therefore are
‘personal’ to the Christians and only they can ask for a change in the
laws. Whether, in a secular state, succession laws can be seen in
the context of religion is a question that can be raised.
However a more basic question that emerges from this
allegation is the question of how Christian these succession laws
are. All Biblical evidence negates the Christian basis of laws
such as the above which discriminate against women.
It is essential to make a distinction between the
social and religious practices of a community and the faith they
process. Too often unjust social practices and religious rituals
are given quai-divinelegitimazation. The scriptures too are
interpreted to suit the designs of vested interests and power
groups. Dr. M.M. Thomas a renowned Indian theologian cautions
“The word of God needs to be distinguished from human words, and faith
from doctrines so that we can move on to more
adequate human words and doctrines to express the word and the content
of the faith.”
Therefore the search for ever more just practices so
as to make them more true to the Christian faith, rather than
absolutizing traditional practices, which have been handed down over
the centuries, becomes our ultimate concern.
Tradition often instills a deep sense of awe of all
established structures and both men and women become numbed into
inaction.
“Faithfulness to tradition does not mean sacralization of the past, of
the history of the Church. Tradition is not a kind of immutable
monster, a prison in which we are confined forever. It is a
stream of life..... In us and from us, the tradition will become
a spring of living water again.”
reminds a woman from the Orthodox Church.
The Succession Laws in question have their roots in
a historical past, grounded in the tradition - the norms and demands of
that time. They cannot become a prison in which humanity is
confined forever the old laws must be struck down and new and relevant
laws based on justice must be established. Christ was constantly
suggesting alternatives to the old-new and dynamic ‘laws’ rooted in
justice and love.
“Jesus does not waste his time trying to upgrade the feminine role by
giving new dignity to the old task. On the contrary He creates an
alternative. A woman’s freedom in Christ therefore includes at
the core, her freedom from the systems of dominance that diminish her
personhood by imprisoning her womanhood. The Christian feminist
viewpoint automatically leads to a critique of historic-cultural
traditions that have given women a distorted image of their bodies,
their abilities, their roles, their responsibilities, their dignity and
their destiny ......
The Scribes and pharisees of today’s miliew, i.e., the interpreters and
upholders of culture (the law) in the world’s many social groupings,
will be affronted by the demands women make on themselves and on the
men. So women need to be prepared to face the opposition, the
misunderstanding, the false expectations that Jesus himself faced.”4
God has a definite preference for those who are
discriminated against. In a story of the Old Testament (Numbers
27:1-8) we see the courage and commitment of 5 sisters who when their
father died, demanded and won their right to the name and inheritance
of their father, (See “Mahlah and Her Sisters” elsewhere in this
publication). The word of a just God transcended the social and
legal practices of those times. Many other examples can be given
both from the old and New Testaments to show how God intervened on
behalf of the oppressed and changes the course of the traditinal
practices and laws of the time.
The Succession Laws of 1916 and 1925 are not based
on Christian principles, as was emphasized by the Executive Committee
of the National Council of Churches in India, as they discriminate
against women who in the creation story were made, along with men, in
the image of God (Gen. 1:27). That which is made in the image of
God cannot be treated as a non-person in the family or in the society.
So strong is this bias against women in the present
family structure and so determined is the effort to keep women
powerless and dependent on men, that middle class families will happily
spend lakhs of rupees and give lavish dowries on marriage of daughters,
but will not give even a small lportion of all that money to their
daughter in her own name, under her independent control, in the form of
land or other income generating property. In the present family
system, women are mainly used as commodities, as vehicles for transfer
of consumer forms of property from one family to another. In
fact, even control over women, as over slaves, is passed from one
owner, the parent’s family, to the other, the husband’s family.
By and for themselves, women seldom come to acquire any real control
over even what is customarily supposed to be theirs.
In this context the rights of widows cannot be over
emphasized. Jesus uses the symbol of the widow to show that she
acts with the noblest of intentions (the widow’s mite). A widow,
who is a person in her own right, must be treated not as an object of
mercy and charity, but allowed to be the subject of her own destiny -
to be able to live an independent and dignified life of her own.
The personhood that Christ gave to women is not dependent on any other
human being and is retained throughout their lives.
A call for the Striking down of the Travancore
Christian Succession Act and the Cochin Christian Succession Act is
based on a Christianity that deals with the equality between women and
men (that St Paul describes in Galatians 3:28) interpreted not merely
in the spiritual and eschatological dimension - as is always done - but
in the sociology and life practices of the Church and the Christian
Community - a dimension which has been suppressed by a hierarchical and
patriarchal structuer of church and society.
The Church and the Christian Community must
recognize this dimension of their life and witness as that they can
become the Church they are called to be, a sacrament and effective sign
of God’s reign.
APPENDIX I
(The Act has not been included in its entirely for lack of space.
Only those sections which have a direct bearing on the articles in this
booklet have been included)
TRAVANCORE CHRISTIAN SUCCESSION ACT
(Regulation 11 of 1092)
A Regulation to consolidate and amend the rules of law appliccable to
intestatee Succession among Indian Christians in Travancore, Passed by
His Highness the Maharaja of Travancore, on the 21st December, 1916,
corresponding to the 7th Dhanu 1092, under section 13 of Regulation V
of 1073.
Preamble:- WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the
rules of law applicable to instestate succession among Indian
Christians in Travancore. We are pleased to enact as follows:
1. Short Title:- This Regulation may be called “The
Christian Succession Regulations”.
2. This Regulation to constitute the law of Traaavancore in all
cases of intestate succession among Indian Christians APPENDI:- Except
as provided in this Regulation, or by any other law for the time being
in force, the rules herein contained shall constitute the law of
Travancore applicable to all cases of intestate succession among the
members of the Indian Christian community.5
5. Interpretation Clause:- In this Regulation, unless there
can be something repugnant in the subject or context.
‘Will’: means the legal declaration of the
intentions of the testator with respect to his property, which he
desires to be carried into effect after his death, and includes a
codicil:
‘Streedhanom’- ‘Streedhanom’ means and includes any
money or ornaments, or ; in liew of money or ornaments, any property,
movable or immovable, given or promised to be given to a female or, on
her behalf, to ther husband or to his parenst or guardian by their
father or mother; or, after the death of either or both of them, by any
one who claims under such father or mother, in satisfaction of her
claim against the estate of the father or mother.
7. Law regulating succession to deceased person’s immovable and
movable property:- Succession to the immovable property situated in
Travancore and belonging to a member of the Indian Christian Community
is regulated by the Regulation wherever he may have had his domicile at
the time of his death.
Succession to the movable property of a person
deceased is regulated by the law of the country in which he had his
domicile at the time of his death.
16. Widow co-existing with the deceased’s children:- Where the
intestate has left a widow, if he has also left lineal descendants, a
share equal to that of a son shall be allotted to her.
Provided, however, when the lineal descendants of
the deceased consist only of his daughters or the descendants of any
deceased daughter or daughters, the widow’s share shall be equal to
that of a daughter.
17. Widow co-existing with the instestate’s father or mother or
paternal grandfather, or any lineal descendants of his father or such
grandfather:- If the intestate has left no lineal descendants,
but has left his father or mother, or paternal grand-father or any
lineal descendants of his father or such grandfather, one half of the
intestate’s property shall be allotted to his widow.
18. Mother with the intestate’s descendants or his father:- When
the intestate has left his mother, if he has left any lineal
descendants or father, the mother shall not be entitled to any share in
the deceased property.
19. Widow or mother has only a life interest terminable at death
or remarriage over any immovable property to which she may become
entitled under Section 16,17,21,22 - Over any immovable property to
which a widow or mother becomes entitled to under Sections 16,17,21 and
22 she will have only a life-interest terminable at death or
re-marriage.
On the determinatin of the widow or the mother, the
property over which she had such limited interest shall be distributed
among the heirs of the original intestate, as if the holder of the
life-estate had not survived the intestate.
28. The shares of sons in group (1) of section
25- Without prejudice to the provisions of section 16, the male
heirs mentioned in group (1) of Section 25, shall be entitled to have
the whole of the intestate’s property divided equally among themselves,
subject to the claims of the daughter for Streedhanom.
Daughter’s Streedhanom and its value:- The
Streedhanom due to a daughter shall be fixed at one fourth the value of
the share of a son, or Rs 5000 whichever is less.6
Female heirs who were paid Streedhanom to be
ordinarily left out of consideration:- Provided that any female heir of
an intestate to whom Streedhanom was paid or promised by the intestate,
or in the intestate’s lifetime either by such intestate’s wife or
husband, or after the death of such wife or husband, by her or
his heirs shall not be entitled to have any further claim in the
property of the intestate when any of her brother (whether of the
full-blood or of the half-blood by the same father) or the lineal
descendants of any such deceased brother shall survive the intestate.
Any Streedhanom promised, but not paid by the
intestate shall be a charge upon his property.
APPENDIX II
TWO CASES OF CHILDLESS WIDOWS7
These two case studies are taken from a legal
document. They illustrate the plight of two CHILDLESS WIDOWS
governed by the property rights of women according to the Travancore
Christian Succession Act, Regulation 11 of 1092 corresponding to 1916.
Case 1.
One is the case of widow who has an Assistant
Professor at a well known college in Madras. She is now aged 64
years and lives in an Ashram for the Aged in Kerela. Her husband
was a retired District Sessions Judge, who died in 1981 at the age of
71 without a Will. His property is worth over 3 lakhs and fetches
a high rent. It goes to his nearest male relative - his
brother. It is noteworthy to see that the widow is in an
Ashram. This is the fate of an educated widow-wife of a Judge who
died without a Will and CHILDLESS.
Case 2.
The other is the case of another CHILDLESS woman, an
under-graduate, unemployed, aged 54 years. Her husband was the
Director of a Central Research Institute and died in 1980 aged 57 with
no Will. The property goes to the nearest male relative - a
brother of the deceased. The present value of the property is
around 3 lakhs. This widow gets a small government pension.
The fact that she has not out-right control over the house means that
she pays this pension as rent for her half of the house and thus lives
on charity.
APPENDIX III
FURTHER READING
1981 “Women and the Law”, Banhi,
No.1
1983 Sharma, Kavita, “Blatantly
Discriminatory - Christian
Personal Law in India,” Manushi, No.19, p.42, Nov. - Dec.
1983 Devadason, E.D.,
“Discrimination of Christian
Women in Succession Law” Stree, No. 3,
pp. 13-14, Dec.
1984 Chatterji, Jyotsna, ed., Changes
in Christian Personal Laws, Delhi, I.S.P.C.K for WCSRC - CISRS - JWP
1984 “Women and the Law”, Stree,
No.6, pp. 6-7, Nov.
1985 “Women and the Law”, Stree,
No.8, p. 10, March -
April.
1985 “An Important Announcement”,
Stree, No. 9, p.2,
September
1985 “Women and the Law”, TO-Day
Journal of the YWCA of India, New Delhi
About WINA
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