A Supreme Court Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notice to the Union government on the petition.
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The Supreme Court on Thursday (April 16, 2026) decided to examine a plea that said the provisions of Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 on inheritance and testamentary succession are discriminatory to women.A Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notice to the Union government on a petition filed by Poulomi Pavini Shukla, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Nihal Ahmed, that Shariat inheritance and testamentary succession were not “essential religious practices”.“Shariat inheritance and Shariat testamentary rules do not constitute ‘essential religious practices’ under Article 25 (freedom of religion and conscience) as Muslims in India are, besides Shariat law, subject to varying statutory frameworks across different States, which do not apply such rules, thereby demonstrating that they are not indispensable to the practice of Islam,” the petition submitted.Mr. Bhushan said the Shariat inheritance provisions of the 1937 Act operated in an inherently unequal manner.The senior counsel said the 1937 Act, originally meant as a reformative measure to improve the legal status of Muslim women, particularly when customs excluded them from inheritance, has turned sour and become a barrier to substantive equality.“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.It said the Shariat testamentary rules restricted a Muslim from bequeathing more than one-third share of even self-acquired property, denying full autonomy over one’s own assets. Consequently, Muslims remain the only class of citizens in India without complete testamentary rights over self-acquired property.It said Muslim women remain the only substantial class of women in the country who have been denied equal inheritance rights.“All other communities are governed by secular statutes providing equality, resulting in a constitutionally impermissible classification based on religion and gender,” the petition said.Unlike marriage, divorce, maintenance and guardianship mentioned in the Shariat law, Muslims were subject to inconsistent and parallel regimes as regards inheritance and testamentary succession.Muslims are subject to at least five frameworks - Shariat Act, 1937, State Revenue Codes, Special Marriage Act, Goa Civil Code and the Uttarakhand Uniform Civil Code.“This fragmentation directly defeats the purpose of the Shariat Act, 1937, which was enacted to secure uniform application of Muslim personal law in place of diverse customs. The present non-uniformity reintroduces the very inconsistency the Act sought to eliminate,” the petition said. Published - April 16, 2026 05:14 pm IST
