New Delhi, September 2026 — Despite progressive legal amendments introduced two decades ago, a widespread practice across North India reveals a stark reality: daughters are systematically signing away their inheritance. A recent analysis by StudyIQ IAS dives deep into the traditional practice of “Haq Tyag” (relinquishing of rights), shedding light on the social and economic mechanics that continue to keep women out of ancestral property ownership.

The Illusion of Equal Rights In 2005, a landmark amendment to the Hindu Succession Act unequivocally made daughters coparceners by birth, granting them equal rights to ancestral property as sons. The Supreme Court further cemented this in 2020 through the Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma verdict, ruling that this right exists irrespective of whether the father was alive in 2005.

Yet, the on-ground data is dismal. According to the NFHS-5, while 73.2% of rural working women are engaged in agriculture, women hold a mere 12.8% of land holdings. Only 8.3% of women aged 15-50 in India have land registered in their name.

The Loophole: “Haq Tyag” and Gift Deeds The mechanism bypassing the law is shockingly simple. Often, right before a daughter’s wedding, families present her with a Relinquishment Deed (or Release Deed). For a nominal stamp duty and registration fee, daughters legally forfeit their inheritance.

Furthermore, as economist Siwan Anderson (often cited in such research) points out, families circumvent inheritance laws entirely by executing “Gift Deeds” while the patriarch is still alive, transferring the land exclusively to sons. Inheritance only applies to property left at death; if the property is already gifted away, the daughter’s legal “equal share” is effectively zero.

An Insurance Policy Named ‘Family’ Why do daughters willingly sign these papers? The analysis notes that it is rarely out of ignorance. For an Indian woman who typically has no independent income or property rights at her marital home, her parental home (the maayka) serves as her only social safety net and emotional anchor. Demanding her legal share risks permanently severing ties with her brothers and family. By signing the relinquishment deed, she is essentially paying the “premium” for this familial insurance policy.

Startlingly, research shows that the most common way an Indian woman acquires land is not by being a daughter (only 1.64% get it as coparceners), but by outliving her husband (37.5% acquire it as widows).

A Slow Change and Possible Fixes States like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra that amended their laws before 2005 show that legal reform does work over time, leading to higher female education, delayed marriages, and increased land ownership.

To combat current loopholes, experts suggest implementing mandatory “cooling-off” periods before signing relinquishment deeds, exploring joint-ownership models to avoid fragmenting small agricultural holdings, and having sub-registrars privately verify if the woman is signing the deed under familial duress.

Bottom Line The 2005 amendment leveled the playing field on paper, but the actual transaction of property remains deeply tied to patriarchal conditions. When a daughter is forced to choose between her legal inheritance and her relationship with her family, the law’s intent fails. True equality will only be achieved when families voluntarily offer a daughter her share, rendering the relinquishment deed obsolete.