Vol. 14, Part I · pages 361–365

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 343 to succession and maintenance, what should be our attitude. I fell strongly on these. As I submitted in my earlier observation, I am in favour of giving to the women of India rights over property, moveable as well as immoveable, so that they may be economically independent. But, at the same time, I am opposed to giving the daughter a share in the property of the father. 3 P. M I want that, so far as an unmarried daughter is concerned, she may be given full share like the son as long as she does not marry. But as soon as she is married the position becomes different. I see that there is a lacunae in our law, but it may be met by enacting that, as a woman marries a man, then the man and woman, when they are united in love, they may be united in property. Ultimately the man and woman may be joint owners and, when the father of the husband dies, both of them may succeed equally. Further on, the devolution of the property may take place in a particular way. I know that perhaps the demand for equality may not be fully net thereby. But in a matter of this kind, I do not think our sisters are well advised in weighing every question in golden scales. The yard-stick employed by them is not correct. May I submit that, in regard to maintenance, they have such laws and such provisions the equal of which is not to be found anywhere else. Sir, the question of succession and the question of maintenance must be considered together. If they are not considered together, the difficulty will be that the full implications of the provisions will not be realised. Now, in regard to maintenance the duties of a husband or a man are quite different from the duties laid upon women. According to the Chapter on Maintenance, the wife has a right to be maintained by the husband, but has the husband a right to be maintained by the wife ? I am only saying that the rights are not equal. I maintain that the rights cannot be equal. They are diverse. Ladies and men have to do different work in life and on this basis it should be so arranged that the woman gets her full right and not an absolutely equal right. Then again, Sir, a father has a right to maintain a minor son ; but, so far as the daughter is concerned, what are the rights of a daughter. Sir ? If a daughter is widowed or is married or unmarried, in every ease and whatever the age of the daughter, her maintenance is absolute obligation. As a matter of fact so far as the provisions for maintenance are concerned, I certainly want to congratulate Dr. Ambedkar for proposing that the ladies should be protected in every way and that

DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES344 they should be well provided for. But while this useful provision is there, there is also the other thing that the ladies should get a share in the father’s property. The Honourable Dr. Ambedkar told us yesterday that in times of old there was simultaneous devolution of property and that the daughter got about one-fourth according to Narad. I do not know what was the basis of social existance in those days and whether the family was then constituted as it is today. I do not know whether this point has been dealt with in some texts of Hindu Law. That is not an accepted proposition. Some say that this provision of simultaneous heirship refers only to unmarried woman. But, leaving that aside, I submit that, if in these times it was considered right, the question of questions is whether today, as we are situate after having observed the theory of Agnacy for a thousand years or more, are we justified in accepting the proposition that the daughter should get a share ? What happens in a family ? As long as the father is alive, the sons work with him in his business or in the field and they combine together to produce wealth. When the father dies of old age, that property which goes in the father’s name is thus the result of the joint efforts of the sons and the father. Now, to say that the daughter should get a share of such a property which she had no share in producing—perhaps she was in some other place producing children, is not fair. Let me not be misunderstood. I do not want that the daughter should not be given full rights. She may have them. But I do not want that this innovation, which is of such a fundamental character that it will affect every home in our country, should be made. I know my people all right. Choudhari Ranbir Singh who is a Jat knows how his sonin-law will be received in the family. I have been a practising lawyer for forty years and I know that in the case of self-acquired property, the daughter gets a share when there are no sons. If this innovation is introduced in the villages, in regard to entire property the result will be endless trouble. In every home if you let the son-in-law and the father and the mother of the son-in-law to live together with aunt’s son and his family, it will create an impossible situation. This is not because we do not love our daughters. We do everything for them. In our place, if a daughter comes home to her parents, something is always given to her by way of love. Shrimati Renuka Ray : Daughters should not be born in this country.

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 345 Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : To that I know what Dr. Ambedkar will say. He will say, ‘Instead of son, daughters should be born. Do we not know that among many Rajputs, the daughters were killed ? I do not want that to be done. It is unnecessarily wrong. What I am submitting is that for hundreds of years we have lived in such a society. We have regarded the son as the very pivot of the family. Without a son the daughter does not count in the family. It is the son which protects a man from hell. (irkr =kk;rs ) If we were like the Muslims, we would certainly accept it, but it is very difficult. This interruption by Renuka Ray only brings into relief my argument that so far as the conceptions of the people are concerned and their mental outlooks are concerned, such an innovation would spell nothing but disaster. This is my humble submission and Mrs. Renuka Ray only supports me in this. Mr. Krishnaswami Bharati : I do not know which part of the country he comes from, but it appears that he does not know the custom in the Punjab. In no other province I can say the conditions are the same. What are these conditions due to ? They are due to the fact that for thousands of years, our policy and our theory and our conception about the family has been exactly what has been in the Punjab. Sons-in-law are not all bad. Sons are not equally bad. Shri Mahavir Tyagi (U.P.: General): It is the brother-in-law which matters. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: There is a proverb which runs as follows : (Translation of Urdu proverb) (The following are the efficient causes of strife: (1) Construction of house in the place meant for deposit of village refuse; (2) A field in the vicinity of village common ; and (3) The habitament of son-in-law in the village.) Another proverb. (Translation of Urdu proverb) (The yama, the son-in-law, the maternal nephew, chowkidar and the goldsmith can never be yours. You may try them if you please.) This is the truth. Let me say : Ask any person to go to the Punjab and find out among the Sikhs and Jats. So far as this Bill is concerned, when this Bill was introduced, I remember that in the Objects and Reasons, this thing appeared: “The Bill aims at providing uniformity in all branches of Hindu law for all provinces and for all sections. The old complex, intricate and different provisions

DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES346 of Hindu Law have also been simplified. Most of the provisions in the Bill are of a permissive or enabling character and impose no sort of compulsion or obligation whatever on the orthodox section of the community. Their only effect is to give a growing body of Hindus, men and women, the liberty to lead the life which they wish to lead without in any way affecting or infringing the similar liberty of those who prefer to adhere to the old ways.” Now, Sir, in this very spirit, Dr. Ambedkar spoke yesterday. We want to see both the sections, the enlightened and the non-enlightened are accommodated. My humble submission to him is that so far as that is concerned, he is right; but for those humble people, whom you will neither regard as enlightened nor non-enlightened on the path of social life, you have not given the right provisions in the Bill and my humble request to Dr. Ambedkar is : Let him also kindly allow them to live on this earth. Now, Sir, the very essence of a codification is that it includes certain enabling measures to accommodate the progressive and recognises customs which have grown in spite of texts to the contrary. It was never intended that established rights and provisions of law should be changed in this ruthless manner, which will create bad blood in the whole of the society. All our customs and all our cherished institutions are being crushed by this Bill. When I come to the other provisions, as regards the succession, the position will be still more astounding. Now, Sir, so far as the Mitakshara is concerned, we know the consanguinity is the basis and so far as the Dayabhag law is concerned, religious efficacy is the basis of inheritance. Dr. Ambedkar has been kind enough to give us another basis of inheritance. I do not want to say that he is far from wrong in what he is doing. He is doing the right thing, but I do not know what is the barometer for weighing this natural love and affection. Love and affection may also be perhaps understood. What is natural love I do not know. According to our conceptions, the brother is very dear to us. In our sacred Ramayan, in Lakshman, brotherhood is enshrined. Sir, ‘Uncles’ who are just like parents are very dear to us. But what is the position of ‘uncles and brothers’ in Hindu Code. If I were to tell you how that position has been affected, where they have been relegated, where they have been put, in the list of heirs you will simply be astounded. If you kindly see the Seventh Schedule which has been sought to be made applicable to a Hindu in regard to inheritance, you will find that the first clause includes seven kinds of people and I want to know, Sir, how this new principle of natural

DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 347 love and affection is affected by this provision. In the first place Son ; widow; daughter: this I can understand very well. Then you find ‘son of a predeceased son’: Even there I will allow it. Then comes ‘widow of a predeceased son’. Sir, I do not understand how under the law of natural love and affection she is preferred to a daughter, son or an uncle. I do not think that so far as the question of natural affection is concerned, the widow of a predeceased son, or son of a predeceased son of a predeceased son can be accepted. My opinion is that the Bill is based on a wrong stand-point if it provides for them. I can understand if this is only for providing for ladies, if they were not provided elsewhere. If they wanted not a widow, but the wife of a predeceased son or the wife of a son, I can understand it. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : This is by statute. If my honourable friend will read the Women’s Property Act, 1937, he will understand why these people have been put in the category simultaneously. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: The friend of Dr. Ambedkar knows it quite very well. But in that 1937 Act when that provision was made, the ‘daughter’ was not included. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I have said so. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: You want to add this to enable the daughter to succeed a father and succeed the father-in-law too. This is absolutely unfair. I do not see why you do not provide for this when you are making a new Code. You were making laws in which all claims should have been satisfactorily met. How should you have put in these provisions, because the Act of 1937 was there. I do not think this committee was justified in doing this. They ought to have given a full code in which every claim was satisfied. You cannot justify it otherwise. Therefore, you took protection under that Act. That is the position, Sir. When I come to clause 2 of the original bill the ‘mother’ was considered as the better heir, because the ‘mother’ was a class by itself and the mother succeeded alone. Here I can understand natural love. Now the father has been placed along with the mother and they both come together. But if you proceed further what I maintain will be better understood. When you come to the second case, you find son’s daughter, daughter’s daughter. The son’s daughter has got a special place in Mitakshara law and according to Mitakshara, she is one of the favourite heirs. What happens now, Sir, is that in the original