India 2018

400 India 2018
child receives equal share. Further, where a Parsi dies leaving behind one or
both parents in addition to children, or widow/widower and children, the
property shall be so divided that the parent or each of the parents shall receive
a share equal to half the share of each child.
This Act was amended by The Indian Succession (Amendment) Act, 2002.
It was felt that Section 32 of the Principal Act is discriminatory to widows and
as such the proviso to Section 32 was omitted to remove discrimination in this
regard. Section 213 was also amended by this amending Act to make Christians
at par with other communities.
The law relating to testamentary succession among Hindus, Buddhists,
Sikhs or Jains, subject to certain restrictions and modifications is carried in
Section 57 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 read within the Third Schedule.
The law relating to intestate succession among Hindus is codified in the Hindu
Succession Act, 1956. It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu
and Kashmir. The remarkable features of the Act are the recognition of the right
of women to inherit property of an intestate equally with men and abolition of
the life estate of female heirs. Further, (vide The Hindu Succession (Amendment)
Act, 2005), the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 was amended so as to provide for
the equal share to a coparcener daughter in a joint Hindu property.
A vast majority of Muslims in India follow Hanafi doctrines of Sunni law.
Courts presume that Muslims are governed by Hanafi law unless it is established
to be the contrary. Though there are many features in common between Shia
and Sunni schools, yet there are differences in some respects. Sunni law regards
Quranic verses of inheritance as an addendum to pre-Islamic customary law
and preserves the superior position of male agnates. Unlike Hindu and Christian
laws, Muslim law restricts a persons right of testation. A Muslim can bequeath
only one-third of his estate. A bequest to a stranger is valid without the consent
of heirs if it does not exceed a third of the estate, but a bequest to an heir without
the consent of other heirs is invalid. Consent of heirs to a bequest must be secured
after the succession has opened and any consent given to a bequest during the
life time of the testator can be retracted after his death. Shia law allows Muslims
the freedom of bequest within the disposable third.
Anand Marriage (Amendment) Act, 2012
The Anand Marriage Act, 1909 was enacted to remove doubts as to the validity
of the marriage rights of the Sikh called ''Anand'' and it does not provide for the
provisions of registration of marriages. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 applies
to all Hindus, Buddhists, Jains or Sikhs by religion. It also applies to all other
persons who are not Muslims, Christians, Parsis or Jews unless they establish
that they were not governed by Hindu law, custom or usage prior to the Act.
Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides for registration of Hindu
marriages and as Sikhs were included in the definition of Hindu, under Section
2 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, a Sikh marriage performed according to the