Mary Roy

Mary Roy
Born1933
Aymanam, Kingdom of Travancore, British India
Died1 September 2022(2022-09-01) (aged 88–89)
Kottayam, Kerala, India
Occupation(s)Educator, women's rights activist
Children2, including Arundhati Roy

Mary Roy (1933 – 1 September 2022) was an Indian educator and women's rights activist known for winning a Supreme Court lawsuit in 1986 against the inheritance law prevalent within the Syrian Malabar Nasrani community of Kerala. The judgement ensured equal rights for Syrian Christian women as with their male siblings in their ancestral property.[1][2] Until then, her Syrian Christian community followed the provisions of the Travancore Succession Act of 1916 and the Cochin Succession Act, 1921, while elsewhere in India the same community followed the Indian Succession Act of 1925.[3]

Mary Roy was denied her share of the familial property due to the Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916. She sued her brother after her father's death for equal inheritance.[4] In the case Mary Roy Etc v State of Kerala and Others that was heard by the Supreme Court of India, she won the case against her brother.[5]

She was the founder-director of Pallikoodam (formerly Corpus Christi High School) at Kalathilpady, a suburb of Kottayam town in the state of Kerala. Her daughter is the Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy.[4]

  1. ^ Iype, George. "Ammu may have some similarities to me, but she is not Mary Roy". rediff. Archived from the original on 11 February 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  2. ^ Jacob, George (29 May 2006). "Bank seeks possession of property in Mary Roy case". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 31 May 2006. Retrieved 12 May 2013.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference final-decree-in-mary-roy-case-executed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "മേരി റോയി ജ്യേഷ്ഠനോട് പറഞ്ഞു: 'എടുത്തുകൊള്ളുക'". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).