Anyone who has spent time observing the social and legal landscape of property in Kashmir becomes familiar with a quiet but persistent truth. Women stand at the margins of land ownership. The data only formalises what many of us have encountered for decades. Barely 2 percent of agricultural land is held by women while men control majority. In rural landowning households only 26.9 percent of women possess land individually or jointly while men stand at 72.7 percent. Where women do own property. it elevates their social position and provides a measure of stability yet their presence in land records remains rare.
Despite this long-standing pattern public discourse continues to frame women’s inheritance through the lens of Articles 370 and 35A. The claims often move confidently yet imprecisely. Some insist Kashmiri women were denied inheritance before 2019. Others argue that their rights expanded afterward. Neither view withstands serious scrutiny. Women’s inheritance rights did not shift in 2019 because they never derived from Article 35A.
The foundation of inheritance in Jammu and Kashmir has always rested on personal laws. Hindu women inherit under the Hindu Succession Act of 1956. Muslim women inherit through the Muslim Personal Law of 1937 which draws its authority from Quranic principles that Kashmiri courts have upheld with consistency.
None of these legal structures changed during the constitutional reordering. What has changed, slowly and unevenly, is women’s awareness of these rights and their willingness to assert them despite the emotional weight such assertions carry inside families.
Across countless interactions one notices a recurring attitude that has endured through generations. Daughters are reminded that their future lies elsewhere. Sisters are discouraged from “disturbing the home” by pressing for their lawful share. Even women who understand the law often sign relinquishment deeds to avoid disharmony. The law offers clarity. Society provides resistance.
Legally the position has been remarkably stable. The Hindu Succession Act places daughters on equal footing with sons and makes them coparceners with full rights to seek partition and hold absolute interest in property. These protections existed long before 2019. Muslim inheritance law is equally clear. Daughters inherit half the share of sons. Wives inherit one eighth when there are children. Mothers inherit one sixth. These proportions were untouched by Article 35A and remained exactly the same after its removal.
This leads to the more difficult question. If the law is settled why do so many women in Kashmir still struggle to receive what is rightfully theirs. The answer emerges not in statute books but in living rooms. When a woman asks for her share the reaction is often emotional disguised as concern or cloaked as family unity. Anger appears. Distance follows. The assertion of a right becomes an act of disruption.
For decades courts have been witness to this uneasy terrain. The case of Mst Mukhti illustrates it with stark clarity. She spent forty three years pursuing her lawful share before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court finally upheld it. The uniqueness of her case lies not in its principle but in its endurance. https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/jammu-kashmir/jk-high-court-reaffirms-quranic-injunctions-secures-muslim-daughters-inheritance-rights-after-43-year-legal-battle-279423
Many more women face quieter versions of the same struggle. In recent years courts have begun challenging forced relinquishment deeds, questioning delayed revenue mutations, and reminding officials that administrative convenience cannot outweigh a woman’s entitlement.
One particular case known to me closely reflects the broader structure of this problem. A daughter asked her brothers for her legitimate share. Instead of fairness she encountered isolation within her own family. She turned then to administrative offices and courts where she continues to move from place to place asserting what the law already recognizes.
A largely male dominated system makes it easier for men to deny what belongs to her while the burden of pursuit rests entirely on her. Cases like hers exist in villages, towns, and even families that consider themselves educated and modern.
Civil society organisations like the Kashmir Women’s Initiative for Peace and Disarmament have tried to bridge this gap for women who feel overwhelmed by legal procedures. Their involvement reveals the central truth that many political claims obscure. The law is not the obstacle. The obstruction lies in a social mindset that was never dismantled by the events of 2019 and never created by the articles that preceded it.
For women inheritance is more than a legal entitlement. It is linked to dignity, autonomy, security in widowhood or divorce, and the ability to navigate financial hardship without dependence. Property strengthens a woman’s position within her family and expands her influence in decisions that shape her life.
Yet this remains distant when daughters are treated as temporary participants in the home and brothers assume entitlement as a matter of custom and women internalise guilt for demanding what the law already affirms.
History, jurisprudence, and lived experience converge on the same conclusion. Articles 370 and 35A did not sculpt women’s inheritance rights in Jammu and Kashmir. Those rights flowed entirely from personal laws that remain intact. Women in Kashmir are not waiting for a shift in legislation. They are waiting for a shift in attitude.
One policy is worth recalling because it briefly altered the landscape of women’s ownership. Former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti abolished stamp duty on property registered in the names of women reducing it from five percent to zero. This encouraged women to buy and own property and strengthened their economic position. The policy was later reversed by the administration that assumed charge after August 5, 2019.
The law has been clear for decades. What remains unsettled is when society will recognise that clarity and ensure that every daughter in Kashmir receives her rightful inheritance without turning it into a prolonged and exhausting struggle.
- The author is a native Kashmiri with over 25 years of experience in the marketplace, has developed a strong track record of driving business transformation, conceptualizing new ventures, and leading teams to success; has honed his strategic capabilities in MNCs, navigating the complexities of IT/ITES and Telecom verti He is dedicated to giving back to society, particularly the Kashmiri community, through involvement with organizations like KKS Gurgaon, All India Kashmiri Samaj (AIKS), and Palzun, an Srinagar-based NGO.
Sapru1971@gmail.com
