Essay on law and punishment among the following: The Ho, The Kamar, The Kharia, and the Rengama Nagas

By studying various primitive tribes, the form of primitive law will become all the more distinct. In this connection example of the Ho tribe of Chota Nagpur, the Kamar of Madhya Pradesh, the Kharia tribes of Orissa and Bihar and the Rengama Naga of the Eastern Froniter Province are given below:

1. The Ho.

The economic and cultural standard of the Ho tribe of Chhota Nagpur is sufficiently high among the Indian tribes. A reconciliation of the past and the present can be seen in this tribe. The administration of government officials in the tribal area is carried on through some chosen workers from the village.

With the advent of modern law and justice, the influence of traditional primitive laws among the people here is on the decline but the number of crimes and law suits are proportionately on the increase.

The individuals among the Ho people who mediate between government officials and the tribal members are known as ‘mankis’ and ‘mundas’. These tribal workers are inefficient and corrupt. They can neither help the government nor safeguard the tribal interests. The result is that they generally become selfseekers.

Their activities have been very harmful for the local panchayat. However, the government has been making attempts to maintain the traditional machinery of the panchayat. There is a tribal inspector for the tribal organization and a Kolhan superintendent of a Deputy Collector’s rank to look into the panchayat decisions. The superintendent attends the final sitting of the panchayat, tries to understand the whole suit and examines the panchayat’s decision in that connection.

The panchayat has to consult the ‘munda’ and the ‘mankind’ of the kin concerned for their opinion before deciding a dispute. Whenever a chieftain fails to settle a dispute the Kolhan superintendent himself proceeds to question the parities and the chieftain about the details of the dispute and gives a decision.

2. The Kamar.

The Kamar tribe also, like other tribes, has to follow its own customary laws along with the laws the Indian government. The people of this tribe rarely go to a law court for justice because they are not acquainted with the functioning of the court nor is there a tradition of going to the court.

There are different laws to deal with different crimes among these people. The punishments for crimes, according to their own laws, are not the same as suggested by the government laws, because the conception of a crime among these people is different from the government conception. For example, stealing of grains and other things form government stores for their tribe is not considered to be a crime among the Kamar people. Personal disputes are personally settled through an exchange of blows.

In case of a homicide, the murderer’s crime is pardoned when he invites the whole village to a feast. The provision of punishment in such cases, according to Indian laws, is clearly different. The crimes are decided by the panchayats and they alone are responsible to execute the punishments awarded.

They do not award punishment in crimes in which there is provision of punishment by the supernatural powers, because it is believed that if a criminal is not punished by the supernatural powers in his life period, he will surely be punished for his crime in the after world. Incest is one such offence among the Kamar people which need not be punished, as supernatural wrath is sure to be visited upon the offending pair.

The bad name which the pair earns for the crime in the society is in itself a punishment. In some cases, the offenders are outcast or driven out of the village. Negligence in religious duties is not punished in the hope that the gods themselves will take revenge.

There are automatic supernatural punishments for some ordinary breaches of various taboos. For example, if a menstruating woman violates any of the taboos imposed on her, it is expected that not only she, but the whole of her family will be punished by supernatural powers.

The panchayat does not settle all kinds of crimes. In many cases, social disapproval expressed by the elders of the local group is considered to be enough, while others are left for their settlement to the supernatural powers.

The panchayats settle only those cases in which the crime committed is of a very serious nature or where there is a serious breach of law. The panchayats enjoy wide powers in socioreligious matters.

They depend on officials for their work. The Sarpanch presides over the panchayat meetings. There is a chaprasi who rims errands and informs the people about the date, place and purpose of the panchayat. They only help the panchayat in its work. Only elderly men can be members of a panchayat.

Children, young men and women are excluded from this membership. The decisions taken by the panchayat are either unanimous or minority decisions cannot be made. The panchayat hears both the sides along with their witnesses and the persons accused are also given an opportunity to explain their positions.

Intentions and motives are subordinated to the consequences of an act. The punishment awarded is one and the same in wrongs committed deliberately as well as in those committed unknowingly. Penal feasts are given as penalty in most of the offences.

The details of such feasts are fixed by the panchayat itself and the expenses can be reduced on the request of the accused. Enough time is sometimes allowed to an accused for the arrangement of the feast, during which time he has to bear with the punishment awarded to him and has to remain outside the social life of the tribe at least.

After the establishment of the government administration in the tribal areas, such offences as homicide, grievous bodily hurt and thefts of a very serious nature are taken to the Indian courts for decision.

For other offences, not considered as such according to the Indian Penal Code, the punishments are awarded by the panchayat. Examples of such offences in the Kamar tribe are adultery, witchcraft, touching or riding a horse, eating with the people of low castes, black magic, killing of a cow or bullock, being beaten by a low caste person, having vermin in the wound, marrying a fifth husband after changing four, elopment and breaking of the rule of clan exogamy, etc. Offences against property are given special importance among the Kamar people.

Few people conceal their offences and the evidences are generally true. Most of the offences are considered as sins which can be expiated in most of the cases by giving a tribal feast or by paying a fine. The elders are the guardians of law and it is they who define the law.

3. The Kharia.

In the matter of law and justice in the Kharia tribe, the village headman is the most important person. The headman consults the leaders of influential families in giving justice. The leaders, taken together, constitute the village panchayat. The village panchayat deals with all violation of social, religious and political principles.

The headman and the panchayat members attend the public worships, marriages and funerals. Different offences are punished differently. Excommunication is the severest punishment which a panchayat can inflict.

This punishment is inflicted for offences such as sexual union with a non-Kharia, sexual intrigue within the clan, killing, intentional or accidental, of a cow, calf or bullock and so on. In offences of minor gravity, there is a custom of sacrificing a white cock or a he-goat in the name of sun god.

There are customary laws among the Kharia people pertaining to inheritance of property. Ordinarily a son inherits the property of his father; but if there is no son the widow inherits the property of her dead husband. Contact, sexual intercourse or eating of food with non-Kharia people is also regarded as social offence and certain rites are performed to purify the polluted, without which they cannot be readmitted into social life.

Witchcraft is considered to be a serious offence. Those who practice witchcraft are regarded as enemies of the society and its good and such persons are excommunicated.

4. The Rengama Nagas.

Before the introduction of British rule the village government of the Rengama Nagas rested on the institution of chieftainship. The chief was assisted in his work by able men of different clans. His office was hereditary in the clan but not in the family. The power of the chief was supreme but he could also be removed if he proved very inefficient. The penalty for disobeying a chief was destruction of the offender’s house. After the establishment of British rule, the chief lost his power, but in the matter of inheritance of property and in many other matters their customary laws prevail even today.

The right of inheritance goes from father to son, but in the absence of a son, the widowis entitled to maintenance till her remarriage or death. For serious offences like homicide and arson, the accused is exiled and his house is destroyed.

They also distinguish between murder and accidental homicide and the offences committed knowingly are punished very severely. An example of such an offence is putting a jungle to fire which makes the jungle useless for many years.

Stealing of grains is considered a serious crime. Fines are imposed in such cases but the amount of the fine is realized from the property of the accused only after his death. Sexual relation with an unmarried girl, if not against her will, is no offence but the parents may claim a fine. The amount of fine in such cases is distributed among the poor.

Oaths are sometimes administered to find out the truth. According to the belief prevalent among them many kinds of offences are punished by supernatural powers. Men and women have equal status in the eyes of law.

In some of the main Indian tribes, as is clear from the above description, there are some common factors existing in their administration of law and justice. Many kinds of offences in Indian tribes are left to supernatural powers for their punishment. Decisions in criminal cases are taken by the panchayat and there is no appeal against such decisions.

Many of the offences are expiated by inviting the whole village to a feast. In many cases, the offenders are exiled. The administration of law and justice in most of the cases depends on customs and traditions.

The work of administering law and justice is entrusted to elderly people of the tribe and the punishments are awarded by them in common interest. Witchcraft is considered a serious crime everywhere. The panchayat members take the statements of the witnesses besides the statements of both the parties in arriving at their decisions in criminal cases.