Allahabad High Court bans mention of caste in police records

The Allahabad High Court has directed the Uttar Pradesh government and its director general of police to amend police manuals to stop recording caste in investigation documents and other public records, Bar and Bench reported on Saturday.

A bench of Justice Vinod Diwakar also called for changes to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules to ban caste-based slogans and identifiers on all vehicles. It also said that fines should be imposed on vehicle owners who fail to comply with the directions.

While ordering the removal of caste entry from police forms, the court directed that a field for mother’s name should be added alongside father’s and husband’s names.

It also ordered the removal of caste columns from police station notice boards.

Exemptions would only apply in cases where declaration of caste is legally required, such as under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, the court said.

It added that the directions are binding in Uttar Pradesh and optional for the Centre, which was not a party to the case.

During the hearing, the court also rejected the police’s claim that identifying accused by caste prevents confusion. It observed that modern tools such as body cameras, fingerprints, Aadhaar number, mobile numbers and parents’ details allow for accurate identification.

“In the first quarter of the 21st...

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