My Opinion
By Baba
Strange things happen in Manipur. It is one of the states with highest literacy rates of the country. Unfortunately, people here behave like illiterates.
The recent reports of a one Rajgopal of Wangkhei Nighthem Pukhri Mapal being expelled from the locality on charges of harassment of a minor domestic help is a case in point
I am making it clear at the beginning that I am not supporting harassment of a minor domestic help.
But, the question is: can under the law a social organization expel anybody from his lawful place of residence for doing a wrongful act? I think the answer is a clear no.
The social organization and those who took the decision in the meeting should have taken a legal course, say filing a Public Interest Litigation or reporting the matter to the police so that the culprit enjoy the air of a jail.
The matter could have been different in the case of the tribals. They have special laws under the Indian Constitution though these laws are also subject to reasonable restrictions. No right is in fact not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions and what is reasonable restriction is to be decided by a court of law not by a mob or a locality sitting in a meeting.
A tribal village chief has certain administrative power in his jurisdictional area but the people of Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal are no tribals under the law.
There was a similar case before the Punjab and Haryana High Court though the context was different. In that case a man and woman (adults) who were within prohibited degrees of marriage had eloped and married somewhere and a caste panchayat expelled them from their village. The couple petitioned the court which naturally ruled that the caste panchayat does not have the power under the law to expel the couple save for an aggrieved party filing a case on the ground, say for example, their marriage was not valid under the law, etc.
Their marriage might not have been valid but no panchayat can expel them from their village, the court ruled.
What is happening in Manipur is not nothing new. Everybody wants to take the law into one’s hands. We have a glorious tradition and we are proud of our culture but there is also not denying that we have cultivated, in the recent past and not from our forefathers, a culture intolerance of others’ views, of violence and disregarding laws. This must be arrested sooner than later. We have to stop going backward. If things remain like this, how much we would have lagged behind others in next five decades?
Strange things happen in Manipur. It is one of the states with highest literacy rates of the country. Unfortunately, people here behave like illiterates.
The recent reports of a one Rajgopal of Wangkhei Nighthem Pukhri Mapal being expelled from the locality on charges of harassment of a minor domestic help is a case in point
I am making it clear at the beginning that I am not supporting harassment of a minor domestic help.
But, the question is: can under the law a social organization expel anybody from his lawful place of residence for doing a wrongful act? I think the answer is a clear no.
The social organization and those who took the decision in the meeting should have taken a legal course, say filing a Public Interest Litigation or reporting the matter to the police so that the culprit enjoy the air of a jail.
The matter could have been different in the case of the tribals. They have special laws under the Indian Constitution though these laws are also subject to reasonable restrictions. No right is in fact not absolute and is subject to reasonable restrictions and what is reasonable restriction is to be decided by a court of law not by a mob or a locality sitting in a meeting.
A tribal village chief has certain administrative power in his jurisdictional area but the people of Wangkhei Ningthem Pukhri Mapal are no tribals under the law.
There was a similar case before the Punjab and Haryana High Court though the context was different. In that case a man and woman (adults) who were within prohibited degrees of marriage had eloped and married somewhere and a caste panchayat expelled them from their village. The couple petitioned the court which naturally ruled that the caste panchayat does not have the power under the law to expel the couple save for an aggrieved party filing a case on the ground, say for example, their marriage was not valid under the law, etc.
Their marriage might not have been valid but no panchayat can expel them from their village, the court ruled.
What is happening in Manipur is not nothing new. Everybody wants to take the law into one’s hands. We have a glorious tradition and we are proud of our culture but there is also not denying that we have cultivated, in the recent past and not from our forefathers, a culture intolerance of others’ views, of violence and disregarding laws. This must be arrested sooner than later. We have to stop going backward. If things remain like this, how much we would have lagged behind others in next five decades?
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