Couple attacked by kin for posting SC order on equal rights

Bengaluru: Enraged over sharing in WhatsApp the recent Supreme Court order about women’s rights on the ancestral property, four youth allegedly attacked their uncle and aunt here, police said on Monday.

M Shashikala lodged a complaint that the sons of her brothers Dhanaraj and Mohan attacked her and her hotelier – husband Muttu on August 12, the police said.

She stated that Muttu had in the family WhatsApp group posted the court order saying women too have equal rights on the property of their parents, they said.

On the night of August 12, Dhanraj’s sons Vaishak, Vaibhav and Vaishnav and Mohan’s son Varun went to Muttu’s hotel and attacked him with sticks and stones.

When Shashikala went to the rescue, she was also attacked and threatened. When contacted, the police said the four have not been arrested yet.

The Supreme Court recently ruled that women will have equal coparcenary rights in joint Hindu family property even if the father died before the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005. The verdict makes it clear the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 granting equal rights to daughters to inherit ancestral property would have retrospective effect.