Tripura to codify tribal law

Thursday, July 3 1997

Tripura to codify tribal law

UNITED NEWS OF INDIA

AGARTALA, July 2: The Tripura Government has taken up an ambitious scheme to codify traditional laws and remove harsh punishment still being practiced by some tribes in the State.

Ranjit Debbarma, chief of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), disclosed that the State Government had sanctioned Rs 1 lakh for this purpose.

A committee, headed by Council chairman Mongsajai Mog, has also been constituted. The TTAADC will assist the Government in the codification and implementation of the laws, he added.

According to Debbarma, there are 21 tribal communities in Tripura, prominent among which are: Tripuri, Reang, Jamatia, Noatia, Hulam, Lushai and Mog. Each tribe has its individual lifestyle, culture, customary laws and method of punishment.

Sometimes, the punishment meted out for an offence is unduly harsh. For instance, a few years back four tribal youths were buried alive in front of hundreds of villagers at Harebari in South Tripura for allegedly stealing an idol of Garia. Nobody objected to the judgment passed by the two Akras (chiefs of Jamatia community), said the TTAADC chief.

The State Government will constitute a sub-committee to go into the customary laws of each tribe, organise seminars, prepare draft laws and hold talks with tribal leaders.

The sixth schedule of the Constitution, under which the TTAADC was constituted in 1985, contains a provision whereby tribal laws should be executed by the village council. This council would be formed by holding elections, said Debbarma.

By codifying the primordial tribal laws, the State Government hopes to root out all primitive methods of punishment which is against Indian law.Many poor and downtrodden tribal families have had to give up their property in the face of a legal tangle. Consequently, the State Government as well as tribal intellectuals, leaders and research scholars feel that codifying law would help in uniifying the tribals, said State Tribal Welfare Minister Aghore Debbarma.