Women's caste does not change with marriage: HC

In a significant judgement, the Bombay High Court has held that the caste of a woman born into a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe does not change on her marriage to a person from a forward caste.

In a significant judgement, the Bombay High Court has held that the caste of a woman born into a scheduled caste or scheduled tribe does not change on her marriage to a person from a forward caste.

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"An SC/ST person suffers from disadvantages and indignities just because he or she is born into a particular caste, which he or she acquires involuntarily on birth... The suffering of such a person is not wiped out by marriage to a person born in a forward caste and the SC/ST label continues notwithstanding marriage," observed a full bench of the court.

The ruling came yesterday on a petition filed by a city resident Rajendra Shrivastava who sought anticipatory bail after his wife, from a scheduled caste, accused him and her in-laws of "dowry harassment and casteist atrocities".

Shrivastava, who is from a forward caste, argued that since the woman was married to him she could not seek protection under Prevention of Atrocities Act (PAA). He contended that after marriage a woman loses her original caste status and gains that of the man she marries.