FROM STATE SUBJECTS TO DOMICILE HOLDERS: THE LEGAL EVOLUTION OF PROPERTY INHERITANCE FOR TRIBAL WOMEN IN JAMMU & KASHMIR

AUTHOR – GANESH AAKASH. R* & DR. SONAKSHI VARSHNEY**

* STUDENT AT AMITY LAW SCHOOL NOIDA, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

** ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF LAW AT AMITY LAW SCHOOL NOIDA, AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

BEST CITATION – GANESH AAKASH. R & DR. SONAKSHI VARSHNEY, FROM STATE SUBJECTS TO DOMICILE HOLDERS: THE LEGAL EVOLUTION OF PROPERTY INHERITANCE FOR TRIBAL WOMEN IN JAMMU & KASHMIR, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 6 (6) OF 2026, PG. 934-944, APIS – 3920 – 0001 & ISSN – 2583-2344.

ABSTRACT

In 2019, the constitutional reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir abolished a 100-year-old regime of state subject law and introduced a new domicile regime. The effect of this transition on tribal women in the area, mostly belonging to the Gujjar, Bakerwal, Gaddi and Sippi tribes was paradoxical: even as the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A deprived tribal women of the state of some discriminatory measures which had disenfranchised them, it also introduced new legal uncertainties concerning the interaction between personal law and customary successy. The paper critically reviews the changing legal status of tribal women in Jammu and Kashmir through three different periods Dogra state subject regime, the constitutional period under the J&K Constitution (1956) and the post-reorganisation period and assesses whether the shift of legal identity of tribal women in Jammu and Kashmir has been substantive or merely rhetoric improvement of property inheritance rights of tribal women. It is argued in the paper that the continuation of Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act 1956 which does not apply to the members of Scheduled Tribe, coupled with the lack of effectiveness of the customary rules in terms of succession, together with the fact that the Forest Rights Act 2006 has not been implemented in Jammu and Kashmir in the first place, leaves tribal women in a legal vacuum The three solutions to this structural deficit are referred to as legislative reform, judicial activism and community level legal literacy.

Keywords: Tribal women, Jammu and Kashmir, property inheritance, domicile law, Article 35A, Hindu Succession Act, customary law, Scheduled Tribes