What measures taken to stop caste-based rallies, HC asks Central, Uttar Pradesh govts

Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court grants three days to state govt for filing affidavit about GO issued on September 21, 2025 with regard to banning caste-based rallies in Uttar Pradesh

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has asked the central and the state governments as to what measures they are adopting to stop caste-based rallies in Uttar Pradesh.

The PIL was filed by local lawyer Motilal Yadav in 2013. The plea had urged the court to direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to derecognise political parties that organise caste-centric rallies and sought directives for the central and the state governments to stop caste-based rallies. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

The court granted three days and no more time to the state government for filing an affidavit about a government order issued by it on September 21, 2025 with regard to banning caste-based rallies in UP.

A division bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Rajeev Bharati passed the order on October 9 on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on caste-based rallies in the state. The matter will now be heard on October 30.

The PIL was filed by local lawyer Motilal Yadav in 2013. The plea had urged the court to direct the Election Commission of India (ECI) to derecognise political parties that organise caste-centric rallies and sought directives for the central and the state governments to stop caste-based rallies.

“Despite our order dated 07.08.2024, no affidavit has been filed though instructions have been provided that some government order has been issued on 21.09.2025 with regard to banning caste based rallies organised for political purposes in the State of U.P. Even if it is so, we fail to understand as to why affidavit has not been filed by the concerned officer,” the high court said.

“Three days and no more time is granted to the State for filing an affidavit to this effect, failing which the officer not below the rank of the principal secretary shall appear before this court to explain as to why our order dated 07.08.2024 has not been complied with and an affidavit has not been filed,” the high court ordered on October 9.

On July 11, 2013, the high court stayed with immediate effect caste-based rallies throughout Uttar Pradesh, while issuing notices to the central and state governments, EC and four major political parties.

“We stay caste-based rallies throughout the state of UP,” the Lucknow bench of the court comprising Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Mahendra Dayal had said on a PIL filed by lawyer Motilal Yadav back then.

The ruling had come in the backdrop of the Bahujan Samaj Party organising ‘Brahmin Bhaichara Sammelans’ in 40 districts of the state, including one addressed by party chief Mayawati in Lucknow.

The SP had also organised a similar event in Lucknow in 2013.

The court had also issued notices to the Congress, BJP, BSP and the SP.

The petitioner had submitted that there was a spurt in caste-based political rallies in the state. He said political parties were organising rallies in the name of different castes like Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaish.

The petitioner had submitted that while such events were causing damage to social unity and harmony, they were also vitiating the society that was against the spirit of the Constitution.

The court had also directed the petitioner to file a fresh affidavit, bringing on record fresh data pertaining to the holding of such caste-based political rallies by political parties during the last 10 years, as this writ petition was filed in 2013.

On September 21, 2025, the then officiating chief secretary Deepak Kumar issued a 10-point directive to district magistrates and police chiefs in Uttar Pradesh, banning caste-based political rallies, prohibiting caste symbols on vehicles and signboards, and even mandating the removal of caste references from police records like FIRs and arrest memos.

The directive’s roots traced back to a September 16 ruling by a single-judge bench of the Allahabad high court, led by Justice Vinod Diwakar.

While hearing a criminal case, the court expressed dismay over the routine mention of accused individuals’ castes in police documents such as “Mali, Pahadi, Rajput, Thakur, and Brahmin”, labelling the practice “regressive” and a barrier to building a “progressive, transformed, developed, modern, and unified India.”

Justice Diwakar directed the state’s director general of police to justify the “requirement and relevance” of such notations and recommended broader reforms, including amendments to the Central Motor Vehicles Act to ban caste identifiers on vehicles and updates to social media guidelines to curb caste-glorifying content.