The Gazetteers Department

Hindu law had debarred Hindu woman from owning property in her own right in the past. The right of inheritance accrues from the side of the father. There are no matriarchal communities in the district. A woman could own only her stridhan or what was given to her at the time of her marriage by way of gifts and ornaments, and even this she could not alienate in her own right. According to the Mitaksara School of Hindu Law (applicable to whole of India except Bengal where the Dayabhaga School of Law was applied), the property used to devolve on the sons after the death of the father. Widows were entitled to maintenance.

The economic disability of women was slightly removed by the Hindu Women's Right to Property Act of 1937. This act conferred on the wife the right of enjoyment of her husband's share in coparcenary property during her lifetime with no right of alienation. By the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, the son, the daughter, the widow and the mother inherit equally. Women's legal disabilities of inheritance were completely removed by this piece of legislation and in the matter of intestate succession women are assured more or less equal treatment with men.

Formerly, in the matter of adoption women had no voice, nor could a female child be legally adopted. The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Bill of 1956 lays down that a married man can adopt a son or a daughter with the consent of his wife. Married women with husbands alive are not allowed to adopt children in their own right but a spinster, widow or a divorced woman can do that. A married woman can also adopt a child in her own right but only under certain conditions.

The bill also introduced certain rights of maintenance for women. According to the old law, a wife had right to maintenance only as long as she lived with her husband, but now she has the right to maintenance under certain conditions when she lives separate from her husband though no divorce or judicial separation is involved. A Hindu woman rarely goes to a law court for separation because of the social stigma attached to such a procedure and the new regulation is of great help to women in such cases.

Hindu women were hitherto considered as ever dependent upon men and had no economic status of their own. According to the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Bill, a Hindu male or female has to support his or her children, non-earning dependents and widowed daughters.

In spite of the recent legislation, the general condition and the status of the women folk of the district remains much the same. A majority of women being illiterate are unaware of the new laws. Very often, women avoid to go to the law courts for the assertion of their rights. They are also unaware of the responsibility placed on them and their continued dependence and lack of education disable them to undertake such a responsibility.