Hindu Succession Act, secular politics, and framing the female subject

Abstract

Personal law in India establishes religion-based laws governing personal matters such as marriage, succession, inheritance, and divorce. This paper examines two Supreme Court of India decisions concerning Hindu women’s right to property to show how religiosity governs everyday lives in a secular state. The two decisions are Om Prakash v. Radha Charan, AIR 2009 SC 1548 and Mamta Dinesh Vakil v. Bansi S. Wadhwa, 2012 SCC 853. These cases underline the entanglement between the state, religiosity, and secularism. The challenges that these two cases present to Hindu Succession Act of 1953 are framed within Article 15 of the Constitution of India which states that “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.” A similar pattern was present for right to maintenance and Muslim women from the Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum in 1985 which challenged Muslim Personal Law using Article 125 of the Constitution of India. These cases show how the secular basis of the nation-state is challenged as well as reinforced by religion based personal laws. Religiosity not only frames the nation but also frames the identity, choices, mobility, and independence of women. This paper offers a critique of how secularism is framed and remains a performative ideal for nation states and political parties rather than a lived reality, at least for women in India.