Century-old rule shuts my daughter out of her own community. A court case could change that

The court battle highlighted in the article centers on a century-old rule that limits Parsi identity in India, potentially preventing a daughter from being recognized as part of her own community. Writing from Mumbai, the report describes an agiary—Zoroastrian places of worship for the Parsi community—where priests keep a sacred flame and recite Avestan prayers. It says the author’s daughter is excluded because, under the existing gendered framework, only people born to Parsi fathers are recognized by the state as Parsi. When Parsi women marry outside the faith, the article notes that their children can be pushed out. The dispute is framed against demographic pressures, with experts predicting fewer than 25,000 Parsis by 2050. The piece points to a major 1908 ruling that formalized this restriction and says a landmark Supreme Court case now seeks to revisit who qualifies as Parsi.