Daughters are no liability, the Supreme Court has said while dealing with a matter relating to the payment of maintenance to a woman by her father.

The observation from a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna came after the counsel appearing for the man said that the woman is a liability.

“Daughters are not a liability,” Justice Chandrachud observed while referring to Article 14 of the Constitution which deals with equality before the law.

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Article 14 of the Constitution of India

“The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”

Article 14.2

Article 14.2  is clearly in two parts – while it commands the State not to deny to any person ‘equality before the law’, it also commands the State not to deny the ‘equal protection of the laws.

Equality before the law prohibits discrimination. It is a negative concept.

The concept of ‘equal protection of the laws’ requires the State to give special treatment to persons in different situations in order to establish equality amongst all. It is positive in character. Therefore, the necessary corollary to this would be that equals would be treated equally, whilst un-equals would have to be treated unequally.