SHILLONG: In the wake of AICC President Sonia Gandhi asking Meghalaya government not to dilute customary laws in the context of delay in empowering headmen, social activist Tennydard M. Marak, who is pursing the ST status case of Meghalaya Chief minister, has petitioned the Congress president seeking his dismissal within seven days.
In a letter addressed to the Congress President, Tennydard on Monday said that the Chief Minister of Meghalaya Mukul Sangma has made desperate attempt to justify his Scheduled Tribe Caste status by allegedly manipulating the truth and quoting the controversial Garo Hills Autonomous District ( Codification of Garo Customary Laws) Bill, 2009 in his counter affidavit dated 13th August, 2014 filed in W.P. (C) No. 343/2014 ( Tennydard M. Marak – VS – Union of India & Ors.) before the Supreme Court of India and made an unsuccessful attempt in tabling the same in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council.
Marak pointed out that the Chief Minister in his counter affidavit quoting the controversial bill had cited that “section 3 (iv) of draft of Garo Hill Autonomous District (Codification of Garo Customary Laws) Act -2009 specifically provides that a person who is born of a non-Garo mother and a Garo father is recognized as a member of the Garo tribe provided he follows the Garo custom and traditions. In the present case, the father of Mukul M. Sangma was a Garo and married Rousanara Begum, who was a Muslim by birth. She was subsequently adopted into the Manda clan. Hence, Mukul M. Sangma born out of a Garo father and a non-Garo mother, who was subsequently adopted by a Garo, was rightly recognized as a Garo tribal as per Garo customs and traditions.”
Marak, however, urged the Congress president to replace the Chief Minister since he admitted in the counter affidavit that his mother “Rousanara Begum D/o. Late Amiruddin Ali Ahmed of Nagaon , Assam was a Muslim by birth and a non-Garo and in order to justify his scheduled Tribe (Garo) status he manipulated the truth by advocating the controversial Anti-Peoples Bill, the Garo Hills Autonomous District (Codification of Garo Customary Laws) Bill, 2009 and made subsequent unsuccessful attempt to dilute tribal customs, traditions and laws by tabling the same in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council on the 23rd July, 2014″.
Tennydard said that the law is very specific about the claim of Scheduled Tribes through marriage and the guiding principle is that no person who was a not Scheduled Tribe by birth will be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Tribe merely because he or she married a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe.”
Marak also said that the claim made by the Chief Minister (in Para 13 of the affidavit) before the State Level Scrutiny Committee for Scheduled Tribes, Shillong in Enquiry proceeding No. 1 of 2014 dated 31/03/2014 reveals that his mother Rousanara Begum D/o. late Amiruddin Ali Ahmed (an Advocate practising in Nagaon District Court in Assam), had attained the status of tribal by assimilation, which is contrary to law and practices of the Garos and the attempt of assimilating Rousanara Begum the mother of Mukul M. Sangma amounts to forced assimilation. “The United Nations Declaration on the 13th September,2007 duly signed by India envisages that the Indigenous people shall have a right to live in freedom, peace and security and shall not be subject to forced assimilation and destruction of their culture”.
