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Sikkim High Court to consider the unconstitutionality of the Sikkim Succession Act, 2008

Several Sikkimese women have filed a petition in High Court challenging the Sikkim Succession Act, 2008 for being discriminatory. Although the Sikkim Succession Act, 2008grants daughters and wives equal rights to hold and inherit property, it denies these rights to women married to non-Sikkimese men, or those who have acquired foreign citizenship. Immovable assets of Sikkimese women married to non-locals cannot be transferred to their legal heirs. Rooted in the system of patrilocal marriages, the same rule is not applicable to Sikkimese men who marry non-Sikkimese women.

The High Court of Sikkim has issued notice to the state government in this case.

Source: http://bit.ly/2tYNWWL