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B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Women and Law (Hons) 2021 Mar Question Paper with Solutions

KSLU Solved Question Papers

Women and Law (Hons)

Previous Year Question Paper with Solution

B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1

2021 Mar Examination

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Mumbai

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First published on munotes.in on 2 November 2026.

Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.

Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.

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The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.

The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2021 Mar examination.

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Contents

The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2021 Mar examination, in the order it was set.

MarksPage

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MarksPage

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The Paper as Set

The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Mar examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.

Duration 2½ hours  ·  Total marks 70  ·  14 questions answered

How to use this volume

Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.

Read the original question paper

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Q1Explain status of women in pre-constitution period.[10]

Answer

For full marks, cover: Altekar's periods; the Vedic age (education, marriage at a mature age, remarriage allowed, no property rights); the decline from about 500 B.C. (early marriage, loss of education); the medieval period (sati, ban on widow remarriage, the limited estate); colonial rule and personal law; the reform laws of 1829 to 1947 (sati, widow remarriage, the 1872 marriage law, the Married Women's Property Act, 1874, the age of consent, the Sarda Act, the 1937 Acts, the 1939 Act); the reformers; women in the national movement and the franchise; the Karachi resolution, 1931; a table; and a conclusion.

Introduction

The status of women in India before the Constitution of 1950 changed greatly over time. The historian Altekar divided it into four periods. The first two are the Vedic age and the later Vedic age. Then came the age of the Sutras, Epics and early Smritis, and the age of the later Smritis and digests up to 1800. Then came the colonial period, with its reform laws and the national movement.

1. The Vedic age

In the Vedic age, women enjoyed a fairly high position:

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  1. Girls received education, and some were scholars.
  2. They married at a mature age, around sixteen or seventeen, and had a voice in choosing a husband.
  3. There was no sati, and a widow could remarry or take part in niyoga.
  4. But women had no property rights of their own.

2. The decline from about 500 B.C.

  1. The age of marriage fell. By about 200 A.D., marriage replaced the sacred thread ceremony (upanayana) for girls, ending their formal education.
  2. By about 500 A.D., girls were married by twelve.
  3. Manu declared that "a woman is never fit for independence" (IX.3).

3. The medieval period (500 to 1800 A.D.)

  1. Women's position grew worse in almost everything except property.
  2. Widow remarriage was prohibited among the higher castes.
  3. Sati became common among the fighting classes.
  4. A widow could inherit by about 1200 A.D., but only a limited estate.
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4. Colonial rule and personal law

The British courts applied the personal laws of Hindus and Muslims as they understood them. This often froze the worst customs into law. The preamble of the 1856 Act itself recorded that the courts treated Hindu widows as "incapable of contracting a second valid marriage".

5. The reform laws (1829 to 1947)

  1. 1829: Regulation XVII made sati punishable as culpable homicide. Raja Ram Mohan Roy campaigned for it, and Lord William Bentinck passed it.
  2. 1856: the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act (Act XV) made widow remarriage valid, through Vidyasagar's campaign. But a remarried widow lost her rights in her first husband's property "as if she had then died".
  3. 1872: Act III allowed civil marriages, with ages of 18 for men and 14 for women.
  4. 1874: the Married Women's Property Act made a married woman's earnings her separate property, though not for Hindu or Muslim marriages.
  5. 1891: the Age of Consent Act raised the age of consent from ten to twelve.
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  1. 1929: the Child Marriage Restraint Act (Sarda Act) fixed minimum ages of 18 for boys and 14 for girls, though a child marriage remained valid.
  2. 1937: the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act let a widow inherit like a son, but only a limited "Hindu woman's estate". The Shariat Act, 1937 applied Muslim personal law in place of custom, which helped Muslim women inherit.
  3. 1939: the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act gave Muslim women grounds for divorce through the courts.

6. The reformers

Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule (who opened a girls' school in 1848) led the way. Keshab Chandra Sen, Ranade, Pandita Ramabai and Malabari led the fight against sati, child marriage and enforced widowhood, and for women's education.

7. Women in the national movement

  1. From 1920, women joined the freedom struggle in large numbers, and hundreds went to jail.
  2. Sarojini Naidu presided over the Congress, and Vijayalakshmi Pandit became the first woman minister.
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  1. After 1919, women got the vote in the provinces, but on property qualifications. The 1935 Act widened it and reserved seats for women.
  2. The Congress's Karachi resolution of 1931 promised equal rights and universal adult suffrage.

Status at a glance

PeriodStatus of women
Vedic ageEducation, mature marriage, remarriage; no property
From c. 500 B.C.Early marriage, loss of education
500 to 1800 A.D.Sati, no widow remarriage, limited estate
1829 to 1947Reform laws: sati banned, remarriage valid, marriage ages
National movementPolitical role; limited franchise; promise of equality
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The legacy in the courts after 1950

Some pre-constitution laws survived into the Republic and had to be undone later. One example is the Travancore Christian Succession Act of the old Travancore State. Under it, a Christian daughter took only a quarter of a son's share or Rs 5,000, whichever was less. In Mary Roy v. State of Kerala, (1986) 2 SCC 209, the Supreme Court held that this Act had been replaced from 1951 by the Indian Succession Act, 1925, so daughters took equal shares. The case shows how long the inequality of the earlier period lasted.

Conclusion. Before the Constitution, women's status declined from the relative freedom of the Vedic age. Later centuries brought early marriage, loss of education, sati and enforced widowhood, with only a limited estate in property. Colonial courts applied these customs as personal law, but the reformers and the reform laws from 1829 to 1947 began to change them. Women's role in the national movement and the Karachi promise of equality prepared the way for the full equality the Constitution gave in 1950.

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