SHILLONG: The Meghalaya High Court recently made the observation that community-driven changes, would be more positively received if they were made within the community rather than imposition by court.
In a case where the petitioner requested equal rights for tribal women to vote in elections for such local entities and to hold important positions in autonomous district councils, a bench made up of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh made the observations to this effect.
The petitioner said in his petition that various laws now in force forbid women from participating in the process and from running for certain important positions.
A "pleasant breeze of change" sweeping over society, according to the Khasi Hill Autonomous District Council, indicated that women were eager to take part in the process.
Yet, it went on to say that although women are eager to participate in elections, they are not always eager to hold positions of responsibility.
The bench noted that it was a delicate matter because it involved customary laws because, on the one hand, the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution requires that customary laws, practices, and usages that have developed over time prevail and that even matters of adjudication, with the exception of heinous crimes and similar exceptions, would be within the District Council's fold in courts established by the District Council.
The basic rights that have been outlined in the Constitution for Indian citizens would not, so to speak, stay suspended by the application of the Sixth Schedule, the court said, despite the provisions of the Sixth Schedule being an exception to the general trend of the Supreme Law.
The Court deferred to the council's elders to make a decision in light of these difficult issues in the hopes that they would be guided by the state's recent advancements in development.
The Court added that Meghalaya's tribal communities cannot be said to be living in the previous century and that they have seemingly fully assimilated into society, as evidenced by the prevalence of fast-moving consumer goods, internet access, and mobile networks in these regions, just like in the rest of the nation.
The bench dismissed the case after expressing the hope that the petitioner's improvements would occur in due course from within the community rather than being imposed from outside it.
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