Mary Roy

2022 - 9 - 2

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Hindu"

A Revolutionary Dream called Mary Roy (The Hindu)

She won the landmark 1986 case in SC, which gave Syrian Christian women equal property rights, by the sweat of her brow and the grit of her indomitable will ...

May her last journey be in accompaniment with flights of dreams that sing of a more gender just India, where education creates joyful children, girls, and boys, unafraid of living their lives to the full, and pursuing their dreams of variant hues. She sought to craft a new generation, one that was creative, empathetic, and ethical in living a life sensitive of their ethos and environment, one that would not meander into the dreary desert sand of dead habits and ostentatious customs. She did it with elan, standing tall and erect against what was also the most powerful institution in the history of humankind, the Church. To expose the gendered economies of the family as a nation in miniature, was also to stand up against its paternal and condescending stereotypes. That the emperor of patriarchy was naked could only be pointed out by a woman of her mettle who had experienced first-hand the denial of female agency and legitimacy within the undemocratic precincts of her own familial and kinship systems. The personal was indeed political for Mary Roy, a visionary educationalist, social worker, and the doyen of women’s rights in India.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Indian Express"

The landmark Mary Roy case in SC, which gave Syrian Christian ... (The Indian Express)

Mary Roy, the mother of author-activist Arundhati Roy, has passed away at age 89.

It was in 2009 that the protracted legal battle came to an end and the local court finally issued a final execution decree in her favour. The Supreme Court in its 1986 judgment upheld the supremacy of the Indian Succession Act, 1925. In the case of a widow, the Act only provided for maintenance that was “terminable at death or on remarriage”.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Onmanorama"

How Mary Roy cut her own path in education (Onmanorama)

As Pallikoodam turns a guiding force for many educational institutions today, it speaks volumes of the success of Mary Roy, the educationalist who.mary roy.

There is a society, a team of companionship, to run the school. The future of the institution is in safe hands. They attribute the mental maturity to make such a bold decision to Pallikoodam. Mary's stand was that a student's calibre should not be weighed just by holding exams at the end of the year. The specialities of the method of instruction are unique. Gradually the world witnessed the rise of a new teacher who led generations to a promising future through an unconventional education system. The students who didn’t learn English till Class IV became fluent in the language as they moved up the ladder. Primary education is only imparted in the mother tongue. This concept caught the fascination of a woman. More children began to join the school. Students of the school never felt like leaving the institution. They find the time to engage in their favourite hobbies.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Lagatar English"

Women's rights activist Mary Roy passes away at 89 - Lagatar English (Lagatar English)

Lagatar24 Desk. New Delhi, Sept 1: Mary Roy, academician and women's rights activist passed away on September 1 in Kottayam, Kerala at the age of 89.

Roy filed a lawsuit against her brother George Isaac in 1960 to demand equal access to her father’s property. The decision guaranteed Syrian Christian women living in Kerala equal rights to family property. [Lagatar ](https://lagatar24.com)Android App .

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Jagran Josh"

Who was Mary Roy? Educator and Women's Rights activists passes ... (Jagran Josh)

Mary Roy was known for winning the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court case in 1988 which ensured equal rights in the family property for women belonging ...

Mary Roy then approached the Kerala High Court in 1994 to get the lower court’s judgment overruled. Mary Roy was the daughter of P.V. The women of Mary Roy’s Christian community were not able to inherit property because of the Travancore Succession Act of 1916. Mary Roy’s daughter Arundhati Roy is the Man Booker Prize winner. Mary Roy passed away: A celebrated champion of gender equality and a renowned educator, Mary Roy passed away on September 1, 2022, in Kottayam, Kerala at the age of 89. The judgment ensured equal rights for Syrian Christian women as with their male siblings in their ancestral property.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "India Today"

Women's rights activist Mary Roy passes away (India Today)

Academician and women's rights activist Mary Roy passed away in Kerala's Kottayam on Thursday, September 1. She was 89.

The judgment ensured equal rights in family property for women belonging to the Syrian Christian community in Kerala. A noted educationist and social worker, Mary Roy is widely known for winning the landmark Supreme Court lawsuit in 1986, famously dubbed the ‘Mary Roy case’, against the gender-biased inheritance law prevalent within the Syrian Christian community in Kerala. Academician and women's rights activist Mary Roy passed away in Kerala’s Kottayam on Thursday, September 1.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Business Standard"

Mary Roy, noted social worker and Arundhati Roys mother, passes ... (Business Standard)

It was Mary Roy's 39-yr-old legal battle that led to a landmark SC judgement against Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916, ensuring that all ...

More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "தினமணி"

சமூக சேவகர் மேரி ராய் காலமானார்... (தினமணி)

பிரபல சமூக சேவகர் மேரி ராய் உடல்நலக் குறைவால் இன்று காலமானதாக அவரது குடும்ப ...

அவரது உடல் வியாழக்கிழமை மாலை 3 மணி முதல் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை காலை 10 மணி வரை பொதுமக்கள் அஞ்சலிக்காக வைக்கப்படுகிறது. பள்ளிகூடா அருகே உள்ள அவரது இல்லத்தில் இறுதிச் சடங்கு நடைபெறுகிறது. அவரது இறுதிச் சடங்கு வெள்ளிக்கிழமை காலை 11 மணியளவில் கோட்டயத்தில் நடைபெற உள்ளது.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "മലയാള മനോരമ"

അരുന്ധതിയുടെ 'അമ്മു'; ഗോഡ് ഓഫ് സ്‌മോൾ ... (മലയാള മനോരമ)

news · അരുന്ധതിയുടെ 'അമ്മു'; ഗോഡ് ഓഫ് സ്‌മോൾ തിങ്‌സിലെ അമ്മുവിന് ആധാരമായത് മേരി റോയ്.

ആർക്കിടെക്ചർ പഠനവും സിനിമാപ്രവർത്തനവും, അതിനിടെ രണ്ടു വിവാഹങ്ങളുമായി ഒഴുക്കുവെള്ളംപോലെയുള്ള ജീവിതവുമായി മകൾ ഉത്തരേന്ത്യയിൽ അലഞ്ഞുതിരിഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ അതെല്ലാം അവളുടെ അവകാശം, സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യം എന്നായിരുന്നു എല്ലായ്പ്പോഴും മേരി റോയിയുടെ നിലപാട്. അവരുടെ അവസ്ഥ അവളെ എന്നും ദുഃഖിപ്പിച്ചിട്ടേയുള്ളൂ. പതിനെട്ടാം വയസിൽ ആർക്കിടെക്ചർ പഠിക്കാനായി വീടു വിട്ടു ഡൽഹിയിലെത്തിയ അരുന്ധതി അധികം താമസിയാതെ അമ്മയുമായി പിണങ്ങി.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Quint"

'Bitter & Beautiful': Mary Roy, Immortalised by an SC Case ... (The Quint)

Mary Roy, esteemed humanitarian and educationist who became famous for her legal pursuit to ensure equal rights for Syrian Christian women in their ...

Roy had fought the lawsuit against her brothers, seeking equal rights in her deceased father's property. Because the truth is worth it.) I was just angry because I was told to leave my father's house because I did not have a share," Roy As per a study on Roy by Thomas John, she had claimed that "her mother and brother arrived in Ooty with several goondas and ordered [her] to vacate [the] cottage immediately." The widow or mother was entitled only to life interest in the property devolving on them via intestate succession, which was terminable at death or remarriage. I don't give a damn. [ ](https://www.thequint.com/news)and [ Breaking News ](/)at the Quint, browse for more from [ lifestyle ](https://www.thequint.com/lifestyle)and [ art-and-culture](https://www.thequint.com/lifestyle/art-and-culture) So, I didn't read it for a long time... Her father, PV Isaac, was an entomologist trained in England. "Arundhati told me that some parts of the book of the book will hurt me. In a landmark endeavour in the direction of gender equality for Indian women, Mary Roy in 1983 lodged a challenge in the Supreme Court, seeking rights for women in the inheritance of ancestral property of the Syrian Christian families in Kerala. [Mary Roy](https://www.thequint.com/news/india/india-of-today-moving-in-reverse-direction-its-shame-author-arundhati-roy), born in 1933, was the youngest of four children in a Christian family residing in Kottayam.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Onmanorama"

Why Mary Roy sued her family and what it did to Syrian Christians (Onmanorama)

As per the Travancore Christian Succession Act, daughters in Syrian Christian families had no right over the father's property. Roy went to court in.mary ...

It was also argued by her mother and siblings that Roy was already given the cottage in Ooty and therefore could make no more claims. When she elevates her contempt for humanity and wells it to the public in a so-called art form, the believers will be on a warpath. The ones who came after me did not have to go to courts to claim their share." In other words, the Supreme Court said that the Indian Succession Act had made the TCSA invalid. However, when the Supreme Court finally ruled in Mary Roy's favour, it was not the subversion of gender equality (violation of Article 14) that made the two-judge bench led by Chief Justice P N Bhagawathi to repeal the Act. Roy also suspected that her legal triumph had made the Syrian Christian community uncomfortable. It was feared that this retrospective provision would fling open the floodgates of litigation, with many land-related arrangements like transfer of property and even lands pledged for loans years before suddenly becoming illegal and invalid. A Christian Succession Acts (Repeal) Bill was introduced in 1958 by Justice Krishna Iyer, the law minister of the first Kerala Ministry. Interestingly, this figure was never revised; Rs 5000 it was even in 1986 when the Supreme Court passed the order nullifying the Travancore Christian Succession Act (TCSA). Her elder brother, who was running a pickle business, had waved at her the Travancore Christian Succession Act, which gave daughters in Syrian Christian families no right over the father's property. She first started a school, Corpus Christi which later became Pallikkoodam, made some money and then approached the Supreme Court in 1984. She was the youngest of P V Isaac's and Susy Isaac's four children.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The News Minute"

Mary Roy's epic legal battle gave equal property rights to Syrian ... (The News Minute)

The archaic provisions in the Travancore Christian Succession Act, 1916, triggered the rebel in Mary to legally challenge it.

Jaisingh said Justices PN Bhagavathy and RS Pathak were shocked to see the provisions of the Travancore Succession Act, 2016. The Church also resisted inheritance to Syrian Christian women and this delayed the case", she said. According to the tenets of law, a person can approach the Supreme Court directly if it is in connection with the fundamental rights of a person and it has larger propriety. She fought the case on behalf of the Syrian Christian women widowers. The bitter experiences Mary Roy encountered in her childhood fortified her and she resolved to fight the odds in her life. Roy waited 25 years till she was financially independent to file the Public Interest Litigation for herself and a community of women.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Federal"

Mary Roy, the indomitable fighter who lived on her own terms (The Federal)

From having faced a torturous father, to leaving an alcoholic husband and raising her children as a single mother to fighting an archaic system that favoured ...

The SC had ruled in her favour as early as in 1986, but she had to wait for another 25 years for the final verdict: a decree from a Kottayam sub-court. Arundhati Roy acknowledged her debt to her mother by dedicating The God of Small Things to her: “For Mary Roy who grew me up, who taught me to say ‘excuse me’ before interrupting her in public. She was a woman who had been hurt so often that she knew she would be hurt once again if she used the soft option, and so would they. The only friend she had in those days was another divorcee similarly struggling with her job and her three children. When Arundhati raised her red flag and demanded independence from her as she turned 18, Mary let her go. It was here that, on a cold winter night, her father, in a fit of anger after a row with her mother, thrashed her violently and pushed her out into the night. She couldn’t expect anything from her mother, who had been beaten into subjugation, and was so scarred by the experience that she remained indifferent to everything. Mary received her early education from the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Delhi, where her father was posted. At 30, she had to begin her life anew: As a single parent. She was taken out of the boarding school in Madras, where she had been studying, and enrolled in the sophisticated Nazareth Convent School in Ooty. In 1951, when Mary was 16, her father beat her up too, along with her mother. Steadfast in her aim to change her life, and the lives of other women like her, she was not the one who would buckle, give in, always facing hard times head on.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Wire"

Mary Roy, Untiring Social Activist, Was Unafraid of Taking on the ... (The Wire)

The educationist challenged patriarchal societal norms, religious orthodoxy and the arbitrary exercise of power by the state. She was a positive disruptor ...

As far as she was concerned, she fought the state and won, a second time. She teamed with Father Abraham Vellamthadam, a priest and retired professor who was a strong supporter of the school, to challenge the ban before the courts. In 1994, the government of Kerala introduced The Travancore and Cochin Succession (Revival and Validation) Bill to overturn the Mary Roy judgment. Roy celebrated the victory by staging the musical in her school, albeit after 25 years. Alphons raided the school twice to prevent the musical from being staged, and there was a fear that Roy might be arrested. Mrs Mary Roy was a visionary, she changed the landscape of education in Kerala by starting Corpus Christi/ Pallikoodam. The fight for succession rights was not the only court battle Mary Roy fought. Bhagwati delivered the landmark judgment in the case Mary Roy v State of Kerala, nullifying the reign of the Travancore Christian Succession Act. The landmark judgment sent shockwaves to the patriarchal Christian establishment in Kerala. Bhagwati reasoned that after the princely state of Travancore-Cochin merged with the Union of India, parliament had enacted a law in 1951 extending the Indian Succession Act, 1925, which governed succession among Christians across the Indian Union, to the states. She was represented by advocates Indira Jaising and Kamini Jaiswal, the former would later rise to become the first woman Additional Solicitor General of India. She had barely any financial support and had to fight her brother over the family property after her father passed away without a will.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "മാതൃഭൂമി"

ആദ്യപേജിൽ അരുന്ധതി എഴുതി-'അത്രമേൽ ... (മാതൃഭൂമി)

Content Highlights: life of mary roy and her relation with daughter arundhati roy · More from this section · Most Commented.

മകള് സ്വന്തം ഇഷ്ടംതിരഞ്ഞെടുത്തു. കോട്ടയത്ത് താമസിച്ചിട്ടും സ്വന്തം അമ്മയെ നേരില് കാണാന് ശ്രമിക്കാഞ്ഞതിനെക്കുറിച്ച് ഒരിക്കല് എഴുതിയിട്ടുണ്ട് മേരി റോയ്. അതില് പ്രതിഷേധിച്ച് സ്വന്തം വീട്ടില് ബോര്ഡ് തൂക്കി പ്രതിഷേധിച്ചു. വിവാഹം ഡിഗ്രിയെടുത്തിട്ടു മതിയെന്നും സ്വന്തം ഇഷ്ടപ്രകാരം ജീവിക്കാനാണെങ്കില് പണമയച്ചു തരില്ലെന്നുമായി അമ്മ. തിരുവിതാംകൂര് ക്രിസ്തീയ പിന്തുടര്ച്ചാവകാശ നിയമത്തില് സുപ്രീം കോടതിയുടെ അനുകൂലവിധി സ്വന്തം കാര്യത്തില് നടപ്പിലാക്കാന് കാലതമാസം വന്നു. മലയാളം മീഡിയത്തില് പഠിക്കാന് കുട്ടികളില്ലാത്തതുകൊണ്ട് മാത്രം നിലച്ചു പോയ ആ സ്കൂളിന്റെ ചരിത്രം മുന്നിര്ത്തി സ്വന്തം സ്കൂളില് ഒരു ആശയം നടപ്പിലാക്കി.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Onmanorama"

Mary Roy: A revolutionary who embodied the spirit of equality | Mary ... (Onmanorama)

Mary Roy's name stands out in the records of the Supreme Court as the first woman in India who successfully fought against personal laws of.Mary Roy.

She fought the patriarchal system, she fought her brother and mother who refused to understand that she was the lawful inheritor of her father, as much as her brother was. Mary demonstrated through her life that the loss was of the Supreme Court and not hers. To date, the Supreme Court has never struck down any personal law on the ground that it violated the Fundamental Right of women to equality. However, the Supreme Court dodged the question of equality but gave the relief to Mary that she expected. The High Court had held that personal laws of marriage and succession could not violate Fundamental Rights because they did not qualify for the meaning of ‘law’ under Article 13 of the Constitution of India. Mary evolved her educational pattern, teaching in the local language before introducing the children to the English medium of education. Mary was an educationalist till the end of her life. It was then that she was told that she had to leave the house because it was not part of her inheritance. When the police knocked on her door, she told them that she would refuse to leave and that if they wanted to evict her they had to approach a court of law. It was then that Mary became aware of the TCA. They gave her the one piece of advice which was about to change her life. But Mary only discovered this after she had a broken marriage and returned to Kottayam to her ancestral home along with two children seeking shelter with the natal family.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Onmanorama"

The tale of friendship between Mary Roy & Madhavikutty (Onmanorama)

It was only natural that the two Malayali women - Mary Roy and Madhavikutty - forever locked in a tussle with society befriend each other.

There is a beautiful plot of land next to my ancestral home at Punnayurkulam. Madhavikutty was also a champion of Roy's legal battle to ensure equal property rights for Christian women. The tale of their friendship reportedly began after the former, searching for a plot of land to establish a school, decided to advertise so in a local paper.

Explore the last week