Allahabad High Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to eliminate caste references from FIRs, police records, vehicles and public displays, calling such practices “anti-national”. Justice Vinod Diwakar directed the deletion of caste and tribe columns from FIRs, seizure memos, arrest and surrender memos, police notice boards and public signboards, except in cases where law requires caste disclosure, notably under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act.
The bench warned that caste glorification through stickers, slogans on vehicles or digital spaces undermines constitutional morality and equality. It urged the government to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules to explicitly ban caste identifiers and slogans on private and public vehicles, as well as impose fines on violators.
On digital content, the Court asked for stricter implementation of IT rules to flag caste-glorifying content, including that distributed via social media platforms. Formats for public records should also be revised to remove caste disclosure, with mother’s name to be included alongside father’s or husband’s name for clearer identification.
The Court found that recording caste in police investigations serves no legitimate purpose when identification can be established via Aadhaar, fingerprints, mobile numbers, and parental information. It described the continued use of caste identifiers in institutional records as a form of identity profiling that contradicts the spirit of equality enshrined in the Constitution.
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