Abstract
Indian laws are continuously thriving to restore women status equivalent to men however, legal reforms being prevalent in country, gender disparities in property rights is still a challenge. The blackletter of property law that is, The Transfer of Property Act of 1882 (TPA), lacks explicit provisions addressing gender-related issues in property transactions. While the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 and other religious personal laws have amended to give women equal inheritance rights, practical barriers such as patriarchal attitudes, ignorance, and social opposition persist in hindering their effective implementation. This article aim to highlight at the intersection of gender rights and property transmission laws, specifically how legal provisions do not ensure equal ownership, inheritance, and transferability of property by women. Social and cultural constraints prevents women from exercising their legal rights, especially in rural areas where property is still largely controlled by male family members. This paper also brings light on the impact of religious personal laws, which sometimes contradict the principle of gender equality in property ownership. through this article we will aim to criticize the lacunas of said act with respect to transfer of property focusing on gender equity. With overviewing the judicial precedents, this article will offer recommendations by analyzing the legal frameworks, in order to make such laws more inclusive and equitable to women in India.
Key Words- Transfer Of Property Act Of 1882 (TPA), Intersection Of Gender Rights, Equal Ownership, Deficiencies
- Introduction
Women in Indian society has always been treated as goddess, where they are being worshiped and respected. By the time, evolution of patriarchal norms and society drastically changed this aforesaid mentioned scenario. Now the women has to fight for their status, respect and dignity in the society. However, there has been a continuous efforts and notable advancements made in legal reforms, women’s rights concerning the property ownership and transfer in India, challenges still prevails due to entrenched patriarchal norms and complexities of statutes.
The Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (TPA), which governs the transfer and ownership of property and it’s incidentals, is one of the most prominent legal instrument in the Indian property law regime. Though this act is gender neutral in it’s bare language yet it contains grey area which fails to recognize the socio-economic disparities and structural barriers faced by women in accessing and controlling property.[1]
This act primarily governs the transfers concerning immovable property, between living persons, conveyed through either sale or mortgage or lease or gift or exchange. This act is not gender biased, it applies uniformly on men and women and tries to ensure equal participation of women in property transactions. [2]
It can be observed that how women in the society is coerced, forced and manipulated to relinquish all their rights from the property. Besides, the diversity of laws that we have in our country, prevailing today like personal laws are also somewhere obstacles in ensuring woman’s equal status. Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (amendment 2005), remarkabaly elevated the social status of women by granting daughters equal status and right as coparceners in ancestral property. However, the implementation of such laws still remains uneven, specially in rural areas where the people still have a rigid and primitive mindset and practices customary culture, social conditioning and has male dominated structure of society. These factors significantly obstructs and hinders the ascertainment of legal rights of women. Moreover, religion, caste, class, legal awareness, bureaucratic hurdles, lack of education, geographical regions, primitiveness, challenges in implementation of laws and likewise also contributes in creating hurdles and obstacles in ensuring rights of a women equally.
Therefore, the laws isolated are not sufficient in themselves in achieving the desired equality, it has to be collaborated with the socio economic realities of a woman’s life, following with the efficient and strong enforcement mechanism.
[1] Bina Agarwal, A Field of One’s Own: Gender and Land Rights in South Asia, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
[2] Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, No. 39 of 2005, INDIA CODE (2005).