Locating Women in the Vaiphei Customary Justice System in Manipur: Assessing the Legal Void

By Mercy K. Khaute

The Vaiphei tribe is one amongst the numerous hill tribes in Manipur. Various factors like size of population, oratory nature of their customary laws make them obscure from the mainlanders. Within the tribe, justice is adjudicated through the concerned parties’ kinsmen council which has been in practice since ancient days. Essentially every household sets up this council. An important area that beckons under the ethos of customary laws is on inclusive participation of all members. The study reveals the abysmal or rather symbolic participation of Vaiphei women in the justice administration, who are systematically excluded from kinsmen council proceedings through patriarchal norms embedded in the customary system. Drawing on empirical fieldwork, the paper analyzes the structural barriers to women’s participation, explores spaces where women exercise limited agency, and examines how Christianity, out-migration, and education are creating tensions within this patriarchal framework. The findings reveal that while women’s marginalization is pervasive, not absolute, contemporary transformations are creating new possibilities for women’s inclusion in justice processes.