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The Supreme Court has observed that it would move cautiously while examining challenges to provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, and that it would be wary of shattering the Hindu social structure and its basic tenets that have been in existence for thousands of years.
As reported by news agency PTI, A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan was hearing petitions challenging certain provisions of succession under the 1956 Act.
“Do not demean the structure of the Hindu society that we already have. As a court, we are putting you to caution. There is a Hindu social structure and you do not bring it down… We do not want our judgment to break something that has been there for thousands of years,” the bench observed.
The top court said that while women’s rights were important, there had to be “a balance between social structure and giving rights to women.”
The bench referred the parties before it to the Supreme Court’s mediation centre to explore settlement pending consideration of the broader issues.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the petitioners, submitted that the provisions under challenge were exclusionary and discriminatory against women.
Sibal said women could not be denied equal inheritance rights simply because of traditions.
Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, defended the Act as “well-crafted” and alleged that the petitioners were seeking to “destroy the social structure.”
