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. I want that, so far as an unmarried daughter is concerned, she
3 P . M 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