SHILLONG: Women activists in Shillong submitted a memorandum to Governor Ganga Prasad on Tuesday requesting him not to grant assent to the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) (Second Amendment) Bill, 2018, alleging that it seeks to “ostracise” Khasi women who marry non-Khasi men.
A meeting was held at the office of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women in this regard.
The letter submitted to the governor was initially signed by Theilin Phanbuh, chairperson of the Meghalaya State Commission for Women, and endorsed by several women groups and individuals.
The prominent signatories included Patricia Mukhim, Agnes Kharshiing and Angela Rangad.
The letter stated that the proposed amendment clearly sought to excommunicate and ostracise a Khasi woman who marries a non-Khasi and her children, in contravention to customary practices, human rights law and the Constitution.
The KHAD (Khasi Social Custom of Lineage) (Second amendment) Bill, 2018, was passed by the KHADC during its summer session held on July 25.
The women groups said the proposed amendment was never put in the public domain to solicit views and opinions from the Khasi society, which as per the definition in the principal act includes “Khasi, Jaintia, Pnar, Synteng, War, Bhoi or Lyngngam, or who is recognised or deemed as such under prevailing Khasi custom or this act” and who will be directly affected by this bill. Further, due legislative processes were not followed.
According to the letter, the Khasis are a matrilineal society, which means descent and lineage are traced from the mother and where there is ancestral property to inherit, and the Khatduh or the youngest daughter is the custodian of that property. “Customary law of the Khasi that has time and again been settled through various court judgments clearly state that we are a matrilineal society and that matriliny is the central organising principle. This amendment is a clear affront to this time tested socio-cultural practice and will wipe out the Khasi as a tribe. In fact the intent of the principal act is ‘to make provisions for the protection of the Khasi social custom of lineage’ and that social custom of lineage is matriliny. The principle act also formalises the practice of ‘Tang Jait’ where a non-Khasi woman marrying a Khasi man is able to pass on the lineage by way of the newly created clan. This clearly points to the need for protecting matriliny as it is the defining feature and structure of the Khasis,” the letter said.
Alleging that the bill seeks to recast the Khasi matrilineal practice by seeking to strip a Khasi woman and her children of their Khasi and ST status, the letter added that this bill is “bad in law” because it violates the Article 14, 19, 21 of the Constitution which embodies the right to equality and freedom of choice and expression.
They also maintained that many of these questions have in fact been settled in the Supreme Court through various rulings, including the recent Hadiya case, adding the proposed amendment is also in conflict with the Constitution Scheduled Tribe Order 1950.
On the other hand, the activists pointed out that the bill was being justified on grounds of protecting the Khasis against economic exploitation and land alienation but this was done without proper and diligent research.
The women activists maintained that the amendment bill would not in any way resolve what was sought to be projected as being the crisis in Khasi society. They added that legislations such as the Land Transfer Act and the Benami Act already exist to protect against economic exploitation and land alienation.
“These need to be strictly implemented in letter and spirit,” they said while also stressing the need to bring a Land Ceiling Act since rampant land alienation is leading to landlessness and rural landlessness needs immediate check.
