Groups oppose MBBS candidature of mixed-marriage offspring

TURA: Organisations from Garo Hills—the GSMC and the GSU, CEC—have opposed the candidature of a particular applicant hailing from Garo Hills in the MBBS course, on grounds that her father is Muslim by birth.
The candidate in question was recently selected to undergo the MBBS course at SS Medical College in Madhya Pradesh on ST (Garo) quota. The organisations, in their letter to the Director of Health Services in Shillong, have urged the official to revoke the candidature as she was born out of mixed marriage–a Muslim father and a Garo mother.
“Their whole family, including the candidate, has embraced the Islam religion. She can no longer be considered a tribal. Even their fellow villagers from Nidanpur, Tikrikilla and Phulbari in West Garo Hills, including their own A’gitok clan, have considered them as Muslims,” the organisations said.
They recalled the verdict of the Supreme Court on February 15, 2006 in which it had ruled that ‘children born out of a marriage between a tribal woman and a non-tribal cannot claim the status of a Scheduled Tribe’, and urged that her candidature is revoked immediately.
Besides the two organisations, the AHAM, led by former GNLA Chairman, Champion R Sangma had also, earlier, opposed the candidature.