Allahabad High Court makes it clear: Caste has no place in FIR, police documents

The court also asked the government to make stricter provisions under the IT Act to flag and initiate action against content that glorifies caste and peddles hatred on social media.

The court was hearing a petition filed by three persons, who were arrested on charges of peddling illicit liquor in an SUV and running a liquor smuggling gang in Etawah on April 29, 2023. They had approached the court with a prayer to quash the case and legal proceedings against them.

While the court dismissed the petition, it took cognisance of the police mentioning their castes in the FIR and the police investigation.

In an order on March 3, it directed the DGP to file a personal affidavit justifying the requirement and relevance of mentioning the caste of a suspect, or a group of persons named in an FIR, or during a police investigation, in a caste-ridden society where social divisions continue to influence law enforcement practices and public perception.

In an order delivered on Tuesday and uploaded on Saturday, the court said, “The DGP’s affidavit emphasised three key justifications: first, the identification of the accused by caste name is done to avoid any confusion about the identity of the accused; second, the contents of the formats (annexed with the affidavit) may be amended either by the Union Government or the National Crime Records Bureau; and third, the police do not discriminate with accused persons on the basis of their caste or religion and conduct the investigation as per the procedure established by law. So far as the caste is concerned, the police (use a) scientific method of investigation (and caste) has no impact on the psyche of the law enforcement agencies.”

However, the HC said, “The court is not impressed with the justification offered by the Director General of Police. In the court’s view, the DGP… appears to have little exposure to the complex realities of Indian society and the demands of professional policing. True legal and professional acumen necessarily requires an understanding of society – its nature, its functioning, and its constitutional values. Yet, despite holding the state’s highest police office, he conducted himself like an ivory-tower policeman, detached from constitutional morality, and eventually retired merely as a bureaucrat in uniform.”

The order further stated, “Recording the caste of the accused as Mali, Pahadi Rajput, Thakur, Punjabi Parashar, and Brahmin in the impugned FIR and seizure memo serves no lawful or legitimate purpose. What is truly unfortunate is that rather than recommending a departmental inquiry or ensuring the officer undergoes sensitisation on constitutional morality and social concerns, the conduct was defended on vague and unsustainable grounds.”

The court said that such insensitivity on the part of the state’s highest police authority compelled it to engage in a “deeper deliberation on the larger issue of caste-based prejudices”, leading it to issue recommendations to various departments of the Centre and specific directions to the UP government.

Before issuing the directions and recommendations, the court observed, “In the northern part of India — in states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and parts of Madhya Pradesh and Bihar — individuals commonly mark their cars, bikes, and sometimes homes with caste identifiers. Vehicles (are) adorned with caste emblems, slogans, or even warnings. The rise of digital platforms like Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook Reels has given young caste-identified individuals a platform for performance. These reels often romanticise caste aggression and dominance, rural masculinity, and regressive honour codes.”

“The socio-psychological, cultural, and legal dimensions of such behaviour reveal how the assertion of caste in public domains undermines constitutional morality and reflects an identity crisis rooted in historical superiority and modern insecurity. Social media becomes an echo chamber for hyper-masculine caste identity and historical revisionism (e.g., glorifying feudal lords or caste-based political leaders). It promotes a toxic digital masculinity rooted in caste, weaponising tradition in a postmodern format…”

The court directed the Registrar (Compliance) to send a copy of the order to the Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh, who, in turn, shall place it before the Chief Minister.

The directions shall be applicable in the territorial jurisdiction of Uttar Pradesh and are optional for the central government, as it was not before this court, the order added.

The court directed the UP government to ensure that entries in the paragraph and column pertaining to the requirement of caste or tribe shall be deleted, and the mother’s name shall be added along with the name of the father and the husband in all formats.

“It is learnt that a notice board installed at all police stations in UP carries a caste column against the name of the accused; the government shall issue an appropriate order to delete (erase) the same with immediate effect,” it said.