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

The court case at the heart of CNN’s report challenges a century-old rule that bars Zoroastrian (Parsi) women from passing community membership to children, a restriction that can exclude daughters even when parents are Parsi. The article describes Mumbai’s agiary, where priests maintain a sacred flame and recite ancient prayers, but notes that access is denied to the author’s daughter under the existing gendered criteria. Under the rule, only people born to Parsi fathers are recognized by the state as Parsi; children of Parsi women who marry outside the faith are excluded. The community faces severe demographic decline, with experts predicting fewer than 25,000 Parsis in India by 2050. The report cites a 1908 ruling as the legal foundation for exclusion, and says a Supreme Court case is now seeking to redefine who qualifies.