Yes, She Deserved It But…

The historic judgement of the Supreme Court of India declaring women as coparceners of their father’s property is welcome. I hope for a smile of satisfaction on your face. 

Yes, you might have read about the decision and would have appreciated it as well. I too did and one must do if wants to see a progressive society. It comes as an addition to the earlier decision of 2005 but it takes into its effect a large chunk of people who were otherwise left out. The law is not changing much of the system but will surely change the minds and thus it is crucial. It will pave the way in turning the direction of Indian society into a more open, equal and developed one. In this article, I am not going to tell you what that order provides or not rather I will present before you some observations that might cause a trouble with this system and can throw that satisfaction into doubts. 

India is in a pathetic condition when it comes to female foeticides, murders of female infants and even various other oppressions. These are some of the crimes that are committed by the parents, siblings or close relatives themselves. In case of this amendment which puts no bars on making women equal coparceners, I expect an increase in the number of such cases which will further deteriorate the condition of our society.

In our country, we are already facing extreme situations of dowry-related crimes. With the onset of this right women can not only claim their rights by themselves rather they can be subjected to extreme brutalities by their in-laws for their paternal properties. If girls claim properties from their brothers, they are also expected to force their wives to get their share from their siblings and thus creating a cycle which has the potential to cause havoc in the system.

The above problem does not end there. That situation will lead both the sides to possess small plots of lands at different places, one of their own and others received from in-laws. This will dampen all the efforts that have been made in the direction of consolidation of landholdings thus negatively impacting production levels and efficiency.

In any case, if people develop some understanding to transfer lands to get them closer to each other, it needs to be done in the legal ways enforcing all the various processes and money submissions required for the documentation work. I am not talking of the illegal ones, it is legal.  This will also increase the number of court cases and trouble the already plagued Indian Judicial System.

There is also a possibility that if brothers know that their sisters will also claim their share in the parental property, they might not be very interested in fulfilling their courteous responsibilities that they have otherwise been doing so far. It may be like either they should take their own property and be responsible for their own safety, like brothers themselves (sharing their opinion), problems, and other life issues or they shall transfer all their share to the brother. It will lead to deterioration of the social structure (I am strictly against any evil taking place in the society, but it is of course not an ideal society and all of us are very clear with all the problem that strikes us at every moment).

 

My article is not just a representation of my own ideas but a collection of views of the ‘common person of India’ who is still trapped in the limits of narrow social walls. I talked to around fifty individuals from the lower and middle-income group in my area and came to this conclusion. Yes, I counted on a small group of people, but I see that to be the general outlook of society. 

To my dear reader, I would like to say that India is still not completely out of poverty nor it is a developed nation. I am happy with the leaps of developments that it has made in recent years but of course, we cannot escape from all the evils that our society faces. My motive behind this article is not to curse this golden judgement rather it is meant to beware the society of its possible negatives. India is still made by its middle and lower-income groups, mostly farmers so the effects on them are to be counted as effects on the country.

 

I hope for extra efforts on part of the governments, authorities and social empowerment groups to bolster the pitch of women in equipping them with much-required rights while maintaining the social order (meaning a good sex-ratio, respect for women and not that order which limits their approach) and containing the possible ruckus.  Good motives turn out fruitful only if their execution is appropriate and planned. 

Thanks for reading so far. Please make your contribution by sharing your views about the judgement and the article in the comment section below.