Mary Roy

Mary Roy (7 November 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 (or Syrian Christian) community of Kerala. The judgement ensured equal rights for Syrian Christian women as with their male siblings in their ancestral property. Until then, the Syrian Christian community in Kerala were subject to the provisions of the Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916 and the Cochin Succession Act, 1921 (the kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin being predecessors to the state of Kerala), while elsewhere in India the same community was subject to the Indian Succession Act of 1925. In the case Mary Roy Etc v State of Kerala and Others which was heard by the Supreme Court of India in 1986, she won the case against her brother. Contesting this, Roy filed the case against George Isaac, her brother, after the demise of her father P. V. Isaac in 1960. She sued her brother to gain equal access to the inheritance left to them. The lower court at first rejected her plea. The property was divided into two parts—the Kottayam property which was spread over two locales and another at Nattakom Grama Panchayath. The case was considered a landmark case for the reason it fought for equal property rights for Syrian Christian women.

When the case was taken up by the Supreme Court of India, a bench led by Justice P. N. Bhagwati and Justice R. S. Pathak heard the case and delivered the judgement in 1986. While the judgement was in Roy's favor, it did not address the case as violation Article 14 of the Constitution of India which guaranteed gender equality. Instead, the judgement was based on the fact that The Part B States (Laws) Act, 1951, extended national laws to Part B states, which were princely states that were integrated into the union of India. This extension implied that the Travancore Christian Succession Act was invalid after 1951 and was superseded by the Indian Succession Act of 1925. The verdict was applicable retroactively and found opposition from multiple groups that believed that the retroactive nature of the verdict would open up the floodgates for litigations either arising from property inheritance or even properties pledged for loans with the banks.

A bill was introduced by P. J. Kurien from the Congress party in the parliament to undo the retrospective application which did not find much support. A subsequent bill from the Kerala government under K. Karunakaran, Travancore and Cochin Succession (Revival and Validation) Bill did not receive presidential assent. A subsequent motion in the Supreme Court was also dismissed. It is noted that her share of the property was 2 crores, an amount that she left to charity. She was born in 1933 and was the youngest among four siblings in the family. In a personal interview with The Times of India, she disclosed personal details about her life.

Roy had two children: a son, Lalit Kumar Christopher Roy, and a daughter, Arundhati Roy

Roy died in Kottayam on 1 September 2022, after a long period of age-related illness. In 2025, Arundhati Roy released her memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, about their relationship.