UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Rethinking tribal women’s inheritance rights

Q1. In the Supreme Court verdict Ram Charan & Ors. v. Sukhram & Ors. (2025 INSC 865) on the inheritance rights of a Scheduled Tribe woman, how many judges constituted the Bench that delivered the ruling?

  • A. Two
  • B. Three
  • C. Five
  • D. Seven

Q2. Which one of the following is the principal statute whose express non-application to members of Scheduled Tribes lies at the heart of the Supreme Court's 2025 verdict in Ram Charan v. Sukhram on tribal women's inheritance rights?

  • A. The Indian Succession Act, 1925
  • B. The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
  • C. The Hindu Succession Act, 1956
  • D. The Special Marriage Act, 1954

Q3. For the purpose of Section 2(2) of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — which keeps Scheduled Tribes outside the Act's application — the expression 'Scheduled Tribe' draws its meaning from which one of the following provisions of the Constitution of India?

  • A. Article 244
  • B. Article 342
  • C. Article 366(25)
  • D. Article 338A

Q4. In the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling on a Scheduled Tribe woman's inheritance, the doctrine of 'justice, equity and good conscience' was invoked. In Indian succession jurisprudence, this doctrine refers to:

  • A. A constitutional doctrine derived from the Preamble that compels Parliament to enact a Uniform Civil Code for all communities
  • B. A rule of evidence that presumes the existence of patrilineal customary law in tribal areas unless the contrary is affirmatively proved
  • C. A residuary principle by which courts decide a dispute according to general principles of fairness when neither a governing statute nor a proven custom is available
  • D. A judicial test used to determine whether a community qualifies for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Tribes under Article 342