Educationist and women’s rights activist Mary Roy passed away in a private hospital in Kerala on Thursday. She was the mother of writer and political activist Arundhati Roy.

Mary passed away in a private hospital in Kerala’s Kottayam and is survived by her son Lalith Roy and daughter Arundhati Roy.

Mary is best remembered for her 39-year-old legal battle that led to a landmark Supreme Court judgement allowing equal rights for women in share of family property.

Mary fought the battle against her brother who was unwilling to part a share of the ancestral property in Ooty which she wanted to claim after her marriage collapsed and she had returned to her hometown with two children.

The legal battle culminated in the apex court delivering a historical judgment against the archaic Travancore Christian Succession Act of 1916, hence allowing all Christian women an equal share in family property.

In the education sector, as the founder and principal of ‘Pallikoodam’ school (previously named Corpus Christi) in Kottayam, she was most spoken about for making way for an unconventional way of teaching-learning in the institution. She was responsible for nurturing and growing the school from its humble start in 1967.

Pallikoodam school is consistently ranked among the top schools in India by the Education World India School Rankings. In the EWISR 2020-21, Pallikoodam was ranked #4 in India in the co-ed day-cum-boarding schools category and ranked #1 in Kerala. The school has scored high in the parameters of individual attention to students and leadership/management quality. 

Where she led as the principal of the institute for several decades, Mary envisioned the school to function in the same fashion as that of a British-era school in Ooty. The school follows a strict policy of not giving students any homework and instead allowing them time to pursue their hobbies and follow a passion.

Also read: Pallikoodam School, Kottayam