Rajasthan HC directs not to mention caste in judicial, administrative matters

The Rajasthan High Court on Monday ordered that the caste of any person should not be mentioned in any judicial and administrative matter as it was against the constitution.

The court gave the direction following a controversy triggered by the mention of caste in a bail order last week.

In the standing order put on the court website late on Monday night, the HC issued the direction in compliance with its earlier order.

In July 2018, a person named Bishan was not released on bail by the jail authorities for five days despite having been granted bail by HC, only because his caste on the order was not the same as mentioned in the police arrest memo.

The court of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma had then observed that an individual should not to be identified by his caste but by his parentage.

The time has come that the state should strive towards a casteless society, the court had observed.

The order now issued by the registrar general referring to the 2018 verdict stated that the mention of caste is against the "spirit of the constitution", thus no court, including subordinate ones, should incorporate caste in any manner, whether judicial or administrative.

The standing order read, "It has been observed that the caste of accused and other persons is being incorporated by the officers/officials of registry of this court and presiding officers of subordinate courts/special courts/tribunals in judicial and administrative matters, which is against the spirit of the Constitution of India and not in consonance with the directions of Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court issued vide order dated 04.07.2018.