SHILLONG: The Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai (SRT) met the Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy on Thursday and sought his intervention against the move of KHADC to strip of Khasi status for taking the title of the father.
SRT is an organisation which is against the matrilineal system.
Taking up the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Social Customs of Lineage) (First Amendment) Bill, 2018, the SRT referred to Serial 4, Amendment of Section 3 of the Principal Act, No. (1)(c), which states that “Any Khasi who takes the clan/title of his father for himself or his children shall no longer be a Khasi and he and/or his children shall be disqualified from all the privileges, status and benefits as a Khasi”.
The SRT apprised the Governor that the clause is defective as it does not recognise those Khasis who take the clan/title of the father although the children are born out of wedlock between a Khasi father and a Khasi mother.
“ The Bill should have given an option to those Khasis who want to take/give their father’s title/clan. Moreover, this Bill overrules the Right to Freedom (Article 21) of an individual which is one of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India”, the SRT said
It also pointed out that the Amendment Bill has many drawbacks.
However, the SRT supported “Ringbia or Shaw Bhoi” , the customary practices prevailing among the Khasi clan in Ri Bhoi District, where the offspring of the Khasi father is allowed to take the father’s title/clan. “However, it is apparent that the Bill is discriminatory, as within the same community, a section of the Khasis are allowed to take the title/clan of the father while others are not. Moreover, this section violates the Article 15 of the Constitution of India”, the SRT said.
The Bill should have dealt only with general aspects of administration and should not contradict with any religious practices and sentiments of the community. Apparently, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council compulsorily imposed the practice of Tangjait and instead Tangjait should be made optional to those Khasis who do not practice it, the organisation said.
It pointed out that JHADC, in due course of time may enact a Bill of its own and the KHADC Bill would probably bring in a lot of misunderstanding and confrontation among the Tribal cousins (Khynriam, Pnar, Bhoi and War) of the same Khasi ethnic identity.
Referring to another amendment, which states that the “offspring of the Khasi women or Khasi men who violate the Khasi custom of Marriage or Khasi custom of Lineage shall not be a Khasi”, the SRT said the Bill seems to sideline the judgement passed by the Gauhati High Court in the case between A.S Khongphai Vs Stanley D.D Nichols Roy on May 26, 1965, on the issue of tribal status of D.D Nichols Roy as he took the title/clan of his father (L) Rev. Nichols Roy.
The case was filed by the then petitioner, A.S Khongphai challenging the tribal status of D.D Nichols Roy. The judgement was passed and the case was dismissed.
The Syngkhong Rympei Thymmai opposed the Bill as it poses a threat to the Khasi tribe. The bill, if enacted hastily, will affect the ethnic identity and unity of the Khasi society as a whole. The Bill should have been kept in the public domain for comments from different stakeholders, SRT said.
“Furthermore, the law enacted or proposed to be enacted should be progressive and beneficial to the Khasi tribe as a whole without any discrimination or ultra-vires to the Constitution of India, which is Supreme”, it added.
