- Adivasi women in India often face systemic exclusion from ancestral property rights due to patriarchal customary laws that override statutory protections. - While constitutional guarantees promise equality and non-discrimination based on gender (Articles 14 and 15), tribal customary practices frequently enjoy legal protections or exemptions under specific schedules and personal laws. - Balancing the preservation of unique tribal cultures and customary laws with the fundamental right to gender justice remains a critical constitutional challenge. - Judicial interventions and progressive legal reforms are necessary to bridge the gap between constitutional mandates of equality and lived realities of tribal women. - **Constitution of India:** The supreme law of India that guarantees fundamental rights, including gender equality and non-discrimination, serving as the benchmark against which patriarchal customary laws must be evaluated. - **Supreme Court of India:** The apex judicial body of India responsible for interpreting the Constitution, which has increasingly emphasized gender justice by ruling in favor of Adivasi women's ancestral property rights over regressive customs. **Introduction** The editorial discusses the critical issue of ancestral property rights for Adivasi women, highlighting the tension between constitutional promises of gender equality and patriarchal customary laws that deny women inheritance rights. It underscores the need to harmonize cultural preservation with gender justice under the framework of the Indian Constitution. **Core Issue and Detailed Points** - Adivasi women in India often face systemic exclusion from ancestral property rights due to patriarchal customary laws that override statutory protections. - While constitutional guarantees promise equality and non-discrimination based on gender (Articles 14 and 15), tribal customary practices frequently enjoy legal protections or exemptions under specific schedules and personal laws. - Balancing the preservation of unique tribal cultures and customary laws with the fundamental right to gender justice remains a critical constitutional challenge. - Judicial interventions and progressive legal reforms are necessary to bridge the gap between constitutional mandates of equality and lived realities of tribal women. **Key Statutory Bodies, Acts & Concepts** - **Constitution of India:** The supreme law of India that guarantees fundamental rights, including gender equality and non-discrimination, serving as the benchmark against which patriarchal customary laws must be evaluated. - **Supreme Court of India:** The apex judicial body of India responsible for interpreting the Constitution, which has increasingly emphasized gender justice by ruling in favor of Adivasi women's ancestral property rights over regressive customs.