The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday (23 September) ruled out that the inheritance of a woman can only be claimed during her lifetime as her children will not be able to claim her inheritance after her death.
The Supreme Court gave its decision in a case in which the offspring of two deceased ladies, both Peshawar natives, wanted to claim a piece of their maternal grandfather, Isa Khan’s property.
Background
In 1935, Isa Khan handed his property to his son, Abdul Rehman, without including either of his two daughters. In their lifetime, neither of his daughters had fought the move to assert their right to their father’s property.
However, the children of the two daughters after their death claimed their share in Khan’s property and filed a case in 2004. At the time, the civil court gave the ruling in the favor of the children, but the high court later invalidated the judgment.
The Supreme Court confirmed the high court’s judgment on Thursday, with Justice Umar Ata Bandial commenting that the law protected women’s inheritance rights.
Women’s Inheritance Rights Bill
The Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Bill 2019 (section 7) was adopted by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice in June. The bill dealing with the property rights of women protects and helps women get their rightful share in the inherited property.
According to the bill’s goal and rationale statement, the Constitution grants women due respect in society and safeguards their right to property.
According to the proposed bill “the rights of ownership of women in inheritance are violated usually by their family members by means of coercion, fraud, fabrication, forgery, and cheating, etc.”
In addition, it also included that it is “necessary to provide an effective and speedy redressal mechanism to protect and secure the rights of ownership of women in the property.”
According to the proposed bill, women can register a complaint with the ombudsperson if a court of law does not act quickly to resolve their problems. When the ombudsperson announces the decision, the deputy commissioner in charge will submit the compliance report within seven days of completing the legal requirements.
People on Twitter after going through the ruling of the supreme court started sharing their opinions that expand to varying horizons.
