Why Caste Matters: Court Decisions on Caste Discrimination in India

Article 14 of the Indian constitution guarantees every person equality before the law and equal protection under the law. Article 15(1) prohibits the State from discriminating on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth, while Article 15(2) bars discrimination in access to public spaces and services maintained out of State funds, such as shops, restaurants, wells, tanks, and roads. Articles 15(4) and 15(5) empower the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backwards classes, including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 

Article 243D provides for the reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in panchayats, while Article 243T extends the same provision to municipalities. Similarly, Article 330 reserves seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha.

Enacted in 1955 as the Untouchability Offences Act, the Protection of Civil Rights Act (PCRA) aims to prohibit the enforcement of any disability arising from untouchability. It defines ‘civil rights’ as the rights granted to individuals due to the abolition of untouchability.

The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, was enacted to address the persistent rise in violence against SC and ST communities. It mandates State Governments to establish Exclusive Special Courts for one or more districts and appoint Special Public Prosecutors to handle cases under the Act.

The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSRA) was enacted to eliminate the hazardous practice of manually cleaning latrines. It defines a manual scavenger as any person employed, whether on a regular or contract basis, to manually clean, handle, or dispose of human excreta from insanitary latrines, open pits, railway tracks, or similar sites.

In 1962, the state of Mysore (now Karnataka) effectively reserved 68 per cent of university seats for SC, ST, OBC communities. This was challenged in the Supreme Court in M.R. Balaji and Others v. State of Mysore. The Court upheld the State’s power to provide reservations but introduced a 50 per cent cap, setting a key precedent for "balancing affirmative action measures with the constitutional principle of equality", the report notes.

In Ramachandran Pillai v. State of Kerala, the headmaster of Venganoor English Girls High School in Kerala was convicted under Section 5(b) of the Untouchability (Offences) Act, 1955, for creating a separate class, ‘Standard IX-F,’ exclusively for ‘Harijan’ girl students. The High Court held that such caste-based segregation in education was discriminatory. This landmark judgment was among the first to recognize educational segregation by caste as a violation of equality and is seen as a precursor to the Right to Education Act, 2009.

In Rajendra Shrivastava v. State of Maharashtra, the Court held that a Scheduled Caste woman retains her caste identity after marrying a dominant caste man, and remains protected under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The judgment reinforced that caste-based abuse within marriage falls within the Act’s scope.

Focus and Factoids by Aseema.

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