Allahabad HC questions need to record caste in FIRs, seeks UP Police chief’s response

The Allahabad High Court on Monday directed Uttar Pradesh’s director general of police to explain why the caste of suspects or others needed to be mentioned in first information reports.

The bench of Justice Vinod Diwakar was hearing a petition seeking to quash a case registered by the Etawah Police in 2023 under the Indian Penal Code and Excise Act.

The person accused in the matter, the petitioner, was a co-passenger in a vehicle from which the police had recovered 106 bottles of alcohol marked “for sale in Haryana only”. After interrogating the petitioner, the police were able to intercept another car carrying 237 bottles of alcohol.

The prosecution alleged that the applicant was a gang leader who brought liquor from Haryana and sold it in Bihar at higher prices for profit while frequently changing the number plates of the vehicles, Bar and Bench reported.

The court observed that the castes of the two persons accused in the matter had been mentioned in the FIR.

Diwakar asked the state police chief to file a personal affidavit justifying the need to record a person’s caste in FIRs or during police investigations “in a caste-ridden society, where social divisions continue to influence law enforcement practices and public perception”.

The Constitution guarantees the abolition of caste-based discrimination and emphases equality,...

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