'Legal fallacy': Allahabad High Court asks UP govt to not mention caste of accused in police documents

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The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to stop the practice of recording the caste of accused persons in police documents, calling it a “legal fallacy” that weakens “constitutional morality” and poses “a serious challenge to constitutional democracy.”

The ruling came from Justice Vinod Diwakar on September 16 while hearing a criminal case involving liquor smuggling. The court observed that caste references in FIRs and related documents amount to identity profiling and serve no legal purpose.

“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 order stated.

The judge made it clear that neither the FIR format nor the Crime Detail Form requires the mandatory recording of caste or religion. “On examination of aforesaid formats, it's revealed that there is no para in the First Information Report format wherein it is mandatory for the police to mention the caste and religion of accused and complainant,” the court said.

Showing its disapproval of the police stand, the bench noted, “With regard to the police's stand on the identification of the accused based on caste, it is a legal fallacy. In the first quarter of the 21st century, the police still rely on caste as a means of identification. It's unfortunate.”

The court pointed out that other advanced methods already exist for identification. “This is particularly untenable when modern tools such as body cameras, mobile cameras, fingerprints, Aadhar cards, mobile numbers, and parental details are available. In addition, the formats themselves already contain extensive descriptive fields relating to the accused, including sex, date/year of birth, build, height (in centimetres), complexion, identification marks, deformities/peculiarities, teeth, hair, eyes, habits, dress habits, language/ dialect, burn marks, leucoderma, moles, scars, and tattoos, if any. Therefore, this Court is not impressed with the reasoning of the Director General of Police,” the order said.

The court further expressed concern about the social consequences of caste identity in digital spaces. “Social media becomes an echo chamber for hyper-masculine caste identity, 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 digital caste ego is further influencing the cognitive behaviour of the youth, thereby undermining the constitutional morality of brotherhood and unity,” the bench observed.

According to the court, platforms like Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook reels have become arenas where caste-linked assertions are showcased. It said, “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.”

In its broader recommendations, the court urged the Uttar Pradesh government to overhaul police record-keeping by eliminating caste-based entries for accused persons, informants, and witnesses. It also extended its observations to the Union government, noting that caste prejudice needs to be tackled seriously in order to achieve the constitutional vision of a caste-less society.

“Such insensitivity on the part of the state's highest police authority compelled this court to engage in a deeper deliberation on the larger issue of caste based prejudices, leading to the issuance of recommendations (with the hope and expectation that a serious and deliberate consideration by the Union would strengthen the intent of these deliberations to achieve constitutional obligations towards caste-less society) to various departments of the Union Government, as well as specific directions to the State of Uttar Pradesh,” the court remarked.

In addition, the court advised the government to consider regulating caste visibility in public life through law. It suggested amendments to the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) to outlaw caste-based slogans and identifiers on both private and public vehicles. The court directed that “uniform circulars” be issued to all RTOs and traffic departments for enforcement, along with the imposition of “heavy fines” to deter violations.

With inputs from PTI