Kottayam: Educator and Women’s rights activist Mary Roy, 89, died here today. She was ailing for some time. Roy shot to fame after her successful legal fight against gender-biased discriminatory laws that denied rights for women in Syrian Christians in Kerala. It was the 1986 landmark ruling of the Supreme Court that saw her winning the case that made her popular.
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Her fight was against her brother seeking share in the property of her father who died without leaving behind a will. However, after getting the property she returned it to her brother after they settled their misunderstandings. Mother of Man Booker Prize winner, Arundhathi Roy, Mary is the founder of premium Pallikoodam School in Kottayam.
Mary Roy did her schooling in Delhi, and college studies in Chennai. She got a job in Kolkata where she met Rajib Roy who she married. They separated due to family issues. Mary and her two children came to her father’s place in Ooty in Tamil Nadu where the issue related to property cropped up.
