Before hashtags, court rallies, or Women’s Day discounts, India quietly made room for feminism in its rulebooks. At a time when women didn’t have voting rights in many countries and were still considered second to men in most parts of the world, India, yes, colonised, chaotic, caste-ridden India, passed laws that fiercely protected a woman’s right to dignity, choice, and even rebellion.

Some of these laws were buried in dusty legal texts, some emerged from fiery reformers and some were quietly radical, chipping away at patriarchal norms long before feminism became a buzzword.

Here are five surprisingly progressive, feminist-leaning laws that were way ahead of their time.

1. The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act

When: 1856

Where: Across British India for Hindus

In 1800s India, if your husband died, society expected you to become invisible. You were stripped of colour, joy, and agency. Widows were considered inauspicious and often forced into a life of isolation, sometimes even child widows as young as eight or nine.

Then came

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