The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Centre’s response on a
PIL filed by one Poulomi Pavini Shukla and another person challenging the
continued application of Shariat law for property inheritance by Muslims, saying it deprived women of an equal share.

Instead, the petitioners represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan said the Indian Succession Act should be applied to the inheritance rights of Muslims as the existing Shariat law not only deprives Muslim women of equal share, but also prevents Muslim men from giving more than one-third of their property by will.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, after briefly hearing Bhushan’s arguments, issued notice to the Union government for its reply.

“Muslim women remain the only substantial class of women in India denied equal inheritance rights, while all other communities are governed by secular statutes providing equality, resulting in a constitutionally impermissible classification based on religion and gender,” the petition filed through advocate Nihal Ahmad said.

“...Under intestate succession, women are structurally assigned lesser shares than men, and in several situations are denied full inheritance, resulting in systematic deprivation of property rights solely on the basis of gender,” the petition said.