🛑 Landmark Judgment
🗣️ Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma, 2020 SC
- The Court ruled that daughters have the same rights as son in ancestral property under the Mitakshara coparcenary system.
- A daughter becomes a coparcener by birth, just like a sons, regardless of whether her father was alive when the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 came into force.
- The judgment confined that the 2004 amendment applies restrospectively, meaning daughters born before or after the amendment are entitled to inherent coparcenary property.
- Even if a partition was not formalized before 2005, daughters can still claim their share in the coparcenary property.
- The ruling reinforced gender justice by ensuring daughters have the same rights in ancestral property as sons, in line with the constitutional mandate of equality under Article 14.
- The judgment applies to ongoing and future disputes regarding Hindu Joint Family property, ensuring uniformity in inheritance rights.