Following the 11th amendment to the civil code two years ago, an increasing number of daughters have knocked on doors of the court system to claim their share of paternal property.

Before the amendment, only those unmarried at 35 had inheritance rights. Now that the law has been changed, more and more daughters are filing cases against their fathers to claim the property which is otherwise inherited by sons.

Shanti Ajad, 19, and Sanjay Ajad, 21, of Nepalgunj in Banke district have taken their father to court. Their mother could not produce a son, so their father remarried and became the proud father of a son and three other daughters, while the two sisters from the previous marriage were neglected. "Since we are regarded as a burden, we filed a case in the court for the paternal property," says Shanti. The court is considering the case.

Before the amendment of the civil code, the Ajad sisters would not even have been able to file the case. The two decided to go to court as soon as the amendment went into effect last year.

Sabare Bano is another daughter who is waging a legal battle against her father for paternal property. She says she really didn't have a choice but to go to court because her father married for a second time and abandoned her and her mother. "I was not given anything to eat, forget about going to school," she says. Khan is confident that she will win the case because she has already submitted what she calls proof to the court.

Even daughters who are still minors are suing their daddies. Nine-year-old Ratna Kumari Brijbase has filed a case in the district court of Banke. She doesn't know what it is all about, but her brothers have reportedly made her one of the defendants in the case against their parents who started selling off all their family property.

The Banke district court has around half-a-dozen cases in which daughters have claimed their share of paternal properties. The court hasn't given a verdict on any of them yet, but more and more new cases are being registered. (Mahila Bolchhin)