Caste to be a thing of past in FIRs in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh

Both the states and Chandigarh administration have told the high court that they were averse to Punjab Police Rules framed in 1934, whereby an accused, complainant etc. are required to record their caste

The caste of an accused and complainant will no longer be recorded by the police in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh during the filing of an FIR.

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Both the states and Chandigarh administration have told the high court that they were averse to Punjab Police Rules framed in 1934, whereby an accused, complainant etc. are required to record their caste.

The information in this regard was given during the resumed hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) by HC Arora, who had sought deletion of the column in FIRs in which caste is recorded.

Haryana had given a statement to this regard on the previous date of hearing on November 2, Punjab filed an affidavit on Thursday through Naveen Saini, IGP, administration, Bureau of Investigation, stating that “The state is of the view that mentioning of caste etc. in the forms used under the Punjab Police Rules, which were framed in the year 1934, has no relevance in the present scenario, except where required under the specific statute, like SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,” the court was told.

Punjab also told the court that the National Crime Records Bureau, has been requiring from all states the data of accused persons, including their caste.