Ranchi, Sept. 2: Till now, one had heard of a village headman. How about a village headwoman?

Devimai Murmu has scripted history by winning a decade-old legal battle to become the first head of Bichpahar, a Santhal village in Pakur district.

Jharkhand High Court has recently ruled that even a Santhal woman could succeed her father as a village head (gram pradhan). Earlier, only a male heir could take up the post.

Devimai is the eldest of five daughters of gram pradhan Doman Murmu, who had no male children.

Justice Amareshwar Sahay, while delivering a judgment recently, observed that there was no provision either in the Santhal Pargana (Supplementary Provisions) Act, 1949, or the Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act that bars a female from being appointed as a gram pradhan. The court said that the office of village head was hereditary and the next heir — be it a son or a daughter — should be allowed to take the chair. However, a daughter can become a village head only if she is married in the gharjamai custom, the court clarified.

The gharjamai form of marriage — recognised as a valid marriage under the Santhal Pargana customary law — requires the husband to live at his in-laws’ place after severing relationship with his own family.

Devimai had married Sonathan Tudu of Malpahar village following the gharjamai custom and started living with her husband at her father’s house.

After the death of her father in 1998, she approached the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Pakur with a request to appoint her as the gram pradhan. Her cousin Sogen Murmu also staked a claim to the chair.

The SDO rejected Devimai’s claim, saying the residents of the village were objecting to her appointment. She appealed against the SDO’s order before the deputy commissioner of Pakur, who decided in her favour. However, Sogen challenged the decision before the divisional commissioner, who set aside the deputy commissioner’s order.

The divisional commissioner observed that under the Santhal Pargana customary law, after gharjamai form of marriage, the son-in-law attains the same status as that of an adopted son of his father-in-law and can inherit his property.

“So, it is her husband Sonathan Tudu, who is the legal heir and not Devimai. He should applied for the post,” the commissioner said.

But Devimai did not give up and knocked on the doors of the high court in 2003.

Quoting David Gantzer, who had conducted the settlement of Santhal land in 1922-1935, the court said: “No doubt, as per the customary law prevalent in Santhal Pargana, a female cannot claim the property of her father. But, she has the right to the property of her deceased father if she weds in the gharjamai custom of marriage and lives at her father’s place with her husband. In such a situation, a daughter is treated as a son and Santhal law of inheritance allows her to succeed her father.”