Context: The Supreme Court’s judgment in Ram Charan vs Sukhram (July 2025) held that excluding daughters from ancestral property violates the fundamental right to equality. This has brought tribal women’s inheritance rights into sharp focus.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Issues faced by Women: Land Inheritance Rights
Land Inheritance Rights of Tribal Women:
- Tribals in Scheduled Areas are governed by their customary laws in matters of marriage, succession and adoption.
- Despite women contributing more in farms than the men, none of the tribal customary laws prevalent in the Scheduled Five Area States give land inheritance rights to females in ancestral properties.
- The consequence is stark landlessness among women. As per the Agriculture Census 2015-16, only 16.7% of Scheduled Tribe women possess land compared to 83.3% of men.
Reasons for Denial of Land Inheritance Rights to Tribal Women:
- Fear of Land Alienation: The belief that if tribal women marry outside their community, inherited land may pass into non-tribal hands.
- Communitarian Nature of Tribal Land: Tribal land is often perceived as communitarian property, where individual ownership is discouraged, and this argument is used to justify women’s exclusion.
The idea of codifying gender-equal inheritance laws for tribal communities has had a contentious history. The opposing argument is that replacing tribal customs with codified laws would undermine tribal identity. However, it perpetuates systemic gender discrimination and economic marginalisation of women.
Problems with Customary Exclusion:
- Denial of land rights undermines women’s economic independence and entrenches cycles of poverty and dependence.
- It perpetuates patriarchal control over resources and denies women equal status within families and communities.
- The communitarian ownership argument fails in practice, as proceeds from land sales or acquisitions rarely benefit the village community, instead accruing to male members.
- Violation of fundamental rights: Denial of inheritance rights violates fundamental rights.
- Article 14 guarantees equality before law.
- Article 15 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex.
- Article 21 guarantee of dignity is compromised when women are deprived of property and economic security.
- It also contradicts constitutional morality, which demands that customs and traditions must conform to the principles of equality and justice.
Judicial Interventions:
- Madhu Kishwar vs State of Bihar (1996), the SC refrained from striking down tribal succession customs, fearing disruption of settled traditions.
- Prabha Minz vs Martha Ekka (2022): Jharkhand High Court ruled in favour of Oraon women, and upheld the right of females on inheritance, despite being barred by customary law.
- Kamala Neti vs Special Land Acquisition Officer (2022): The SC held that a woman belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) is entitled to an equal share in inherited tribal land. The SC urged the Central Government to amend Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 which expressly exempts tribal women from the scope of the Act.
- Ram Charan case (2025), the SC held that excluding daughters from ancestral property violates the fundamental right to equality.
Way Forward
- Codify Tribal Succession Act that ensures equal inheritance rights for women while being sensitive to tribal socio-cultural contexts. Codification of succession laws on the lines of Hindu and Christian laws would harmonise customary autonomy with constitutional equality.
- Greater awareness and sensitisation within tribal communities to counter fears of land alienation and to highlight the role of women as equal stakeholders.
- Continued judicial scrutiny to ensure that customs failing the test of reasonableness and public policy are struck down.
Empowering tribal women through property rights is essential not only for gender justice but also for achieving inclusive tribal development and social justice.