The Hindu : J&K women get a favourable verdict after 23 years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 22, 2002

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Other States - Jammu & Kashmir

J&K women get a favourable verdict after 23 years

By Our Staff Reporter

JAMMU OCT. 21. In a historic judgment, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court has held that the women of the State will have the same rights as men even if they marry a person from outside the State.

Besides Indian citizenship there is also a Permanent Resident Status (PRS) accorded to the people or their ancestors who had been living in the State for at least 10 years before 14 May, 1954. Only those who have a PRS can buy property or get employment in the State.

As per the earlier interpretations of the State Constitution, women who marry a person from outside the State lose their permanent resident status. Women's groups had been fighting a legal battle for 23 years challenging this provision as it deprived them of the right to retain the status, pursue education, take up employment and inherit property once they married a non-permanent resident.

The petitioners have also questioned the legality of the entry "valid before marriage" made on the permanent resident certificates of women, describing it as violative of their fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution and "discriminatory" on the basis of sex.

Appearing before a full Bench, comprising Justice V.K. Jhanji, Justice T.S. Doabia and Justice Muzaffar Jan, the State Advocate-General, M.A. Goni, contended that a female descendant of a permanent resident of the State would lose her PRS according to Section 6 of the State Constitution by marrying a non-permanent resident of the State.

Thereby, she would not only lose the property she may have acquired in the State but also all special rights and privileges.

He also contended that the status of the wife or window depended upon the status of the husband and in case she ceases to reside in the State and takes permanent residence outside the State she would lose the status acquired by marriage with the permanent resident of the State.

Counsel for the petitioners contended that if the position stated by the Advocate-General was accepted, it would be contrary to the provisions of both the Constitution of India as well as the State Constitution. Justice Jhanji is quoted to have said, "while a permanent resident, in terms of Section 6 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, is essentially a citizen of India and enjoys all the rights guaranteed to an Indian citizen under the Constitution. He has the additional right and privileges to the exclusion of other the other non-permanent residents such as the right of electorate to the legislatures of the State, to the local bodies and other institutions, preferential claims to the services and scholarship and above all the exclusive rights for the acquisition and possession of immovable property in the State"

Overruling an earlier judgment giving reference to a case in which the women of the State marrying outsider acquired the domicile of her husband, the judge said, "the judgment no longer holds the field and is overruled because it relied on Section 10 of the British Law which had itself been amended."

The chairperson of the State Women Commission, Girja Dhar, hailed the judgment as a "step forward".

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J&K women get a favourable verdict after 23 years