Shillong, Sept 22: Unlike marriages among Christians, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) lacks any legal tool to deal with differences among couples following the Khasi indigenous faith.
The KHADC was “surprised” to find this, executive member (EM) in-charge Law Deity Majaw said while announcing a plan to bring a new Bill to govern indigenous Khasi marriages, divorce or live-in relationships.
Majaw said the Council was surprised to find that while it has a codified Christian marriage law since 1954, there is nothing for indigenous customary marriages.
“…for these indigenous marriages, the judiciary of the district council, sorry to say, we don’t have any jurisdiction on that,” Majaw said at a consultation on the Meghalaya Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act, 2012 organised by the State Commission for Women.
She said judges of the District Council have flagged helplessness when couples in indigenous marriages seek divorce.
“What are we going to do, for the indigenous marriages if they want to go for divorce. There is no law as such in the district council,” she said, quoting the judges.
“Our Khasi people, they get married today, tomorrow they might be alone and they get contracted to another marriage. There is no bar, there is no law which will control them,” Majaw observed.
To plug the gap, she said the EC has held several rounds of meetings with judges and legal experts and will introduce the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Regulation and Registration of Marriages Bill in a few months.
“One of the ingredients in the bill, which is very important, is to regulate live-in relationships… in order to bar women or men from exercising polygamy or bigamy,” she said.
She said the proposed law will empower Rangbah Shnongs to register marriages and address the failure to implement the 2012 state law.
“We have the Compulsory Registration of Marriage Act but sad to say that it cannot be implemented till date. Many people are not aware of this act especially in rural areas,” Majaw said.
Flagging misuse of maintenance claims, she said, “I have been in the Women Commission… I have seen many cases… She is remarried, from 1-2-3 marriages but still she is there to seek maintenance for the first child from the first husband.”
