Case Review

The Sabarimala Temple Entry Case has once again become a subject of national discussion, not because a new judgement has been delivered, but because the issues arising from it remain unresolved before a larger bench of the Supreme Court of India. The “reference” in the context is crucial – it signifies that the court itself is reconsidering broader constitutional questions linked to religious practices and gender equality.

The Supreme Court of India upheld the right of a Scheduled Tribe woman and her legal heirs to inherit ancestral property even in the absence of a legal enactment or custom governing the same. The issue arose as the appellant-plaintiffs, being the legal heirs of a tribal woman belonging to the Gond community, were denied succession rights of the property belonging to their maternal grandfather when the defendants refused the partition of the property.