Chakma Tribes

Chakma Tribes

Syllabus

• Prelims – Polity & Geography
• Mains – GS-2 (Constitution and Governance)

Why in News: Custodial death of a couple of Chakma community – Overlap of administration between tribal customary laws and regular penal provisions.

About

• Chakmas are one of the major tribes of Tripura.
• The Tribal Areas of State Tripura are administered under the sixth schedule of the Indian constitution

Sixth Schedule

• The provisions of the sixth schedule are provided under Articles 244(2) and 275(1) of the Indian Constitution.
• Administration of Tribal Areas in the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram falls under the sixth schedule of the constitution
• The most important provisions of the Sixth Schedule are that the tribal areas are to be administered as Autonomous Districts and Autonomous Regions.
• The Governor of the State is empowered to determine the area or areas as administrative units of the Autonomous Districts and Autonomous Regions.
• If there are different tribes in an autonomous district, the governor can divide the district into several autonomous regions.
• Each Autonomous District shall have a District Council consisting of not more than thirty members, out of which four are nominated by the Governor while the rest are elected on the basis of adult franchise.
• The elected members hold office for a term of five and nominated members to hold office during the pleasure of the governor.
• Autonomous District Councils and Regional Councils are endowed with certain legislative, executive, judicial and financial powers.

Judicial Powers

• The District and Regional Councils are also empowered to constitute Village and District Council Courts for the trial of suits and cases where all parties to the dispute belong to Scheduled Tribes within the district.
• And no other courts except the High Courts and the Supreme Court have the jurisdiction over such suits or cases of the Council Courts.
• The region where the incident took place falls under Tripura Tribal Area Autonomous District Council.

What Happened?

• Under Chakma laws, a couple who has eloped thrice is considered married.
• As a precautionary measure elders of the community seek the involvement of police in the case, thus leading to grey zone administration between tribal customary laws and regular penal provisions.

Source: Indian Express