Mary Roy v. The State of Kerala 1986 AIR 1011, 1986 SCR (1) 371

MARY ROY v. THE STATE OF KERALA

Citation: 1986 AIR 1011, 1986 SCR (1) 371

Bench Composition:  P Bhagwati

No. of judges: 1

Acts Referred:

• The Indian Succession Act (1925)
• Constitution of India
• The Travancore Act (1916)
• The Cochin Christian Succession Act (1921)

Facts:

• Mary Roy suffered harassment and humiliation at the hands of her own brothers who hired goondas to evacuate her from their father’s cottage in Ooty along with her children.
• She refused to vacate as she did not have any other place to go.
• The reason for this was demand of succession of the property by the Mary Roy.
• Mary Roy was determined to give it a legal fight to restore her constitutional right to equality.

Issue:

• Whether protection of its personal law against the constitutional guarantee allowed.
• Which law shall be applicable for the succession?
• Whether the decision of High Court should have retrospective effect.

Issue Answered  and The Judgement:

• No religious groups, sect or denomination shall be allowed to claim protection of its own personal law against the constitutional guarantee of sexual equality.
• This violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which lays down equality for everyone and hence, such discriminatory law should be declared invalid.
• The law applicable to intestate succession among Christians of Travancore area of the State of Kerala was the Indian Succession Act, 1925.
• This will be having Retrospective Effect from April 1, 1951.
• A widow receives one-third of the total assets as her share of her husband’s property, and the remaining two-thirds are equally divided among the children of the deceased with no sex difference.
• If a man dies without a wife and children, his property devolved on his father. In the absence of the father, his mother, brothers, and sisters receive an equal share.