Meghalaya: Khasi women adopting non-tribal spouses' customs to lose legacy rights

SHILLONG: A Bill that seeks to strip Khasi women of their inheritance rights if they adopt their non-tribal husbands' customs and tradition was tabled in a tribal council in matrilineal Meghalaya on Monday.
Children of such mixed marriages will also lose their inheritance rights if they follow their fathers' customs, according to the Bill brought in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC).
On the first day of the new session of the Council, the Khasi Hills Autonomous District (Khasi Inheritance of Property) Bill, 2021 was tabled by Chief Executive Member Titosstar Well Chyne, detailing the rights of a Khasi woman and her children if she marries outside the tribe.
"It is expedient to make law on the custom pertaining to the Khasi inheritance of property, and it is therefore considered necessary to enact this Bill for proper regulation and administration on Inheritance of Property among Khasi women in Khasi Hills," the Bill stated.
"In case a Khasi woman, who has married a non-Khasi and has adopted the custom of her husband will lose the right of inheritance," it said.
The Bill aims at streamlining the process of distribution of ancestral and self-acquired properties, Chyne said. "As far as practicable, the property should be equitably distributed among all the children of the family provided the house of the deceased parent shall be inherited by the youngest daughter if she is not disqualified (under the conditions of the Bill)," the Bill says .