The question of women’s inheritance rights in tribal communities remains unresolved. Customary laws of most tribal communities deny absolute property rights to their women, and the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, which grants daughters inheritance rights in ancestral property, keeps tribal women out of its purview. This inconsistent approach — excluding tribal women from inheritance rights in some cases due to the acceptance of exclusion clauses under Hindu laws, while granting rights in others because of ‘Hinduisation’ — created uncertainty for tribal women whenever questions of inheritance arose. Is ‘Hinduising’ a tribe the only way to secure inheritance rights for tribal women? Or, in the absence of consistent statutory and customary law guaranteeing tribal women inheritance rights, should tribal women continue to face discrimination under the pretext of upholding tradition?

Source: The Hindu February 24, 2026 09:46 UTC