Activist and educator Mary Roy, known for her protracted legal battle of nearly four decades against an archaic inheritance law to ensure equal rights in parental property for Syrian Christian women, has died. Most people would be familiar with her as the mother of Arundhathi Roy, the Booker Prize-winning novelist and author of God of Small Things, but Mary Roy, born in 1933, had her own share of fame as a brave woman taking on patriarchy through the court battles she fought.
The 'Mary Roy case' resulted in equal succession rights for Christian women ensuring gender equality in inheritance for women. The Supreme Court in 1986 ruled that no personal law can be held above the Indian Constitution and that the Travancore Succession Act 1916 violated the Right to Equality under Article 14.
A statement from Pallikoodam School run by Mary Roy said Mary Roy (Mary Ammachi) passed away at 9.15 am on September 1, 2022. Her body will be kept at her residence in the Pallikoodam campus from 3 pm to 9 pm on September 1 for the public to pay tribute. Tributes can also be paid on September 2 from 7 am to 12 noon in the MR Block, Pallikoodam campus. The final funeral rites will be private respecting her wishes, the release said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condoled the death of Mary Roy, who made immense contributions to the cause of welfare of women.