DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 571
me ask, how this is possible. What is the real state of Hindu society ? The difference between man and woman, the difference between the son and daughter, this is inherent in the very situation. The son has to remain all through his life, from his inception to his death, with the family in which he has taken birth. The daughter has to go a stranger’s family. What are the consequences resulting from this inherent situation ? The Hindu law givers, the persons who gave us the scriptures, were they so degraded, were they so opposed to the fair sex that they did it only with a view to inflict an inequality or an injustice ? I respectfully submit that this is a wrong reading of the entire scriptures and the Hindu Law. In fact, if the right of inheritance to the patrimony is given to the daughter, I shudder to think of the consequences. The Hon. Dr. Ambedkar, the Law Minister, in his speech remarked, if a Hindu has twelve sons and one daughter, and if on his death his property could be divided into twelve shares, what heaven will fall if instead of twelve it is divided into thirteen shares ? I respectfully ask the Hon. Law Minister to take the opposite case, where a person has got one son and twelve daughters. What will happen in that case ?
The Honourable Shri Jagjivan Ram (Minister of Labour): Thirteen shares.
Pandit Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava : Is a family house to be divided into thirteen shares ? Sir, think of rural India, do not think of urban India, with people living in palaces, but think of rural India where a family has got a very small house. If on the death of the father, his house is divided into thirteen portions, and the twelve sons-in-law are to be accommodated in that house, what will happen ? And Sir, under the law as it is proposed to be made, it is open to the daughter to marry any person she likes, even if she takes courage to enter into marital contract with a non-Hindu she has no bar, and that is not a disqualifaction for inheritance. What will be the result ? The result will be that every house, and every family will be reduced to a family of feuds in which there will be quarrels and worse still— murders too. Therefore, Sir, I respectfully submit that when you are making a law you are not to take into consideration only a concrete example of the character to which the attention of the House has been drawn by the Hon. Law Minister, but you have to take into consideration every imaginable case, and it is on that footing that you have to frame the law.