SHILLONG: Political activist Tennydard Marak, who has challenged the ST status of Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, filed an interlocutory application on May 15 in Supreme Court stating that there should not be any room for further inquiry into the ST status case by the State Level Scrutiny Committee as the Chief Minister himself had admitted in his affidavit that her mother was a non-Garo.
Marak also wanted the Court to declare that the respondents, the Chief Minister and his brother and Cabinet Minister Zenith Sangma are not eligible to continue as MLAs.
Marak alleged that the Chief Minister in his counter affidavit dated 13thAugust, 2014 filed before the Supreme Court of India in order to justify his Scheduled Tribe Caste status even cited the controversial Garo Hills Autonomous District ( Codification of Garo Customary Laws) Bill, 2009 and made an unsuccessful attempt in tabling the same in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council on July 23 , 2014 which is apparent from the counter affidavit of August 13 which said 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 who 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.”
While referring to the submission made before the State Level Scrutiny Committee for Scheduled Tribes, Shillong by the Chief Minister that his mother Rousanara Begum daughter of late Amiruddin Ali Ahmed (an Advocate practicing in Nagaon District Court in Assam), had attained the status of tribal by assimilation, the petitioner said that this is contrary to law and practices of the Garos.
“The attempt of assimilating Rousanara Begum, the mother of Mukul M. Sangma amounts to forced assimilation and the United Nations Declaration on the 13thSeptember,2007 is very specific and duly signed by India envisages the need to respect and promote the inherent rights of the Indigenous people which derive from their political , economic and social structures and from their cultures , spiritual traditions , histories and philosophies especially their right to land, territories and resources. For 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”, Marak asserted .
