MIZO CUSTOMARY LAW:

THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE, DIVORCE

AND ENTRENCHED GENDER ISSUES
- CHRISTINA NGIRNEIRING
21122
 MARRIAGE IN MIZO CUSTOMARY LAW
Types of Marriage:
1. Makpa Chhungkhung
2. Luhkhung (Voidable)
3. Tlandun (Voidable)
4. Innei

Engagement:
5. Bride must bring ‘Puandum’.
6. Bride price or Manpui is fixed.
7. ‘Thutphah’,a portion of the bride price is withheld as a form of guarantee.

Registration of Marriages:
1. Licensed Officer must be informed of intended marriage.
2. Minimum of two witnesses.
3.The Mizoram Compulsory Registration of Weddings Act, 2007, requires marriages to be registered.
4. Certificate issued by the Licensed Officer serves as proof of the marriage.
 DIVORCE UNDER THE MIZO CUSTOMARY LAW

• Under customary law, divorce is finalized when the wife pays back the ‘Manpui’ either partially/fully.
• Grounds for Divorce: Section 13 of the Mizo Marriage, Divorce, and Inheritance of Property Act, 2014
• Mizo Marriage, Divorce, and Inheritance of Property Act, 2014 enables divorced Mizo women to inherit their
ex-husbands' property.
• Grounds for divorce:
1. Sumchhuah- no claim to acquired property
Exceptions: abuse/cruelty/insanity/adultery of husband/restriction of his conjugal rights
2. Adultery- maximum of 25% together with her personal property if husband divorces the wife for adultery or the
restriction of his conjugal rights, except grounds of health
3. Kawngka sula mak- 50% of the acquired property
4. Mutual consent- split acquired property
 THE GENDER DIVIDE IN THE MIZO TRIBE
• Under customary law,
 Women do not own custody of their children after divorce
 Women will not get back the “Thutphah’ if they pass away before becoming ‘Thisenpal’.
 A widow has no right to her husband’s property. A male relative of the deceased husband takes control of
the household and manages the estate until a male son reaches adulthood. If there is no male son, the
male relative will inherit the property. The widow manages her husband's assets as a trustee until his son
or sons are old enough to receive them if there is no such male relative left.
 A daughter is not entitled to a part of her father's property unless there are no sons.

• Under the Marriage, Divorce, and Inheritance of Property Act, 2014,

1. A widow automatically assumes responsibility for the welfare of any young children when her spouse
passes away[Section 13 (1)].
2. A widow is entitled to inherit the full estate if there are no children, legitimate or illegitimate, of her husband
at the time of his passing.
3. An unmarried daughter who has been caring for her parents and siblings is entitled to receive a part equal to
the mother/sons. [Section 31(4)].
4. If there is no surviving son, wife, or unmarried daughter, a married daughter has the right to inherit her
deceased father's property[Section 31(7)].
5. The surviving youngest sister will inherit the personal property of an unmarried daughter who passed away
intestate while she was still a joint family member in her father's home and she was issueless, leaving neither
her mother nor father nor a surviving brother to inherit her property[Section 31(10)]
6. The youngest illegitimate daughter has the right to inherit if there are no surviving sons, no unmarried
daughters, no wife, no married daughters, or illegitimate son after the family patriarch has passed away
intestate. [Section 31(9)]
 ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION
• A closer study of the Mizo society reveals that men dominate their community.
• The bride price has more of a social and prestigious significance than a monetary one.
• The bride price, which theoretically denotes the transfer of wealth, actually represents the
transfer of the male authority over the bride from her father's family to the groom's family.
• The fact that only the male family members receive the ‘Manpui’ shows how highly regarded
males are in both the family and society.
• The prestige linked to ‘Thisenpal’ reduces the function of a woman to that of a reproductive
machine while men who are unable to father sons are not subject to the same restrictions.
• The law is still consciously repressive so far as inheritance rights of the father’s property are
concerned and the daughter/female is still the second in line to the son