What did Mary Roy do for the Succession Rights of Indian Women?

Mary Roy won a Supreme Court lawsuit in 1986 against the gender-biased inheritance law prevalent within the Syrian Malabar Nasrani community of Kerala.

Mary was denied her share of the familial property due to the Travancore Succession Act of 1916. She sued her brothers after her father’s death. This was the case that made its way through the Indian court system and which she won.

The women of Mary Roy’s Syrian Christian community could not inherit property because of the Travancore Succession Act of 1916. Contending this, Mary Roy filed the case against George Isaac, her brother after the demise of her father P.V Isaac in 1960.

Contending this, Mary filed the case against George Isaac, her brother, after the demise of her father PV Isaac in 1960. She sued her brother to gain equal access to the inheritance left to them.

The lower court initially rejected her plea. The property was divided into two parts-the Kottayam property which was spread over two locales and another at Nattakon grama panchayat.

The case was considered a landmark case for the reason it fought for equal rights for Syrian Christian women.