Unfortunately, as it stands, inheritance laws in Bangladesh are still mired in a sea of confusion and exclusionary policies, especially for women and minority groups. In fact, it wasn't until late 2020 that a law was passed that would allow transgendered persons to officially be included within the net of inheritance rights.
Despite our Muslim-majority population, Bangladesh is still home to a diverse array of minority groups of various cultural and religious backgrounds and identities, with the Hindu population being the most prominent.
To that end, it is heartening to finally see our judiciary finally recognize the Hindu community in extending inheritance rights towards, specifically to Hindu women. The High Court recently announced that it is open to hear the case for Hindu women in our society finally being allowed to inherit family property.
Like with most archaic laws still enforced in our country, women in Bangladesh are held back through our inane inheritance laws. In the long run, such laws will ultimately hinder our nation in achieving its development goals, which is contingent upon the empowerment of women and minority groups.
Women from the Hindu community are still subjected to the inheritance laws exclusive to them, according to which all daughters of a man are not equally eligible to inherit. Unmarried daughters and married daughters with sons are allowed to inherit property, while childless widowed daughters or daughters without sons or with no possibility of having sons are excluded.
This is simply unsustainable for a nation that is striving to shed its LDC status within the next few years.
Reforms in our inheritance laws have been a long time coming, and to see dialogue being held at the High Court-level to that effect is another good step towards that goal.
