A petition alleging "sections of the Hindu Succession Act are unconstitutional and violate gender equality" was on Tuesday heard by the Supreme Court at a time debate around the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is largely focused on gender injustice perceived to be prevalent in the personal laws of minority communities.
The Centre has been given four weeks' time to respond.
"The court should intervene on behalf of Hindu women because while society is moving towards gender equality, the Hindu Succession Act discriminates based on gender," the petition stated.
The petition, filed by Kamal Anant Khopkar, was taken up by a three-judge bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Bela Trivedi.
The plea points to "deeply rooted patriarchal ideology" in the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act and spotlights how the husband's family comes first in the line of inheritance even before the dead woman's own parents.
The provisions in the Hindu Succession Act, says the petition, manage to retain property largely within the male lineage.
The petitioner further said that it is "irrelevant whether the personal law was established on the basis of practice or religion or if it is codified or not... If it violates gender equality, it can be challenged."
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