Introduction:

In a landmark move, the Supreme Court has issued a general order prohibiting the mention of caste or religion in the memo of parties of any petition or proceeding filed before the courts. The directive, given by a Bench comprising Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, aims to put an end to the practice of disclosing the litigants’ caste or religion in legal documents. The court emphasized the need to abandon this practice immediately and extended the order to all High Courts, urging them to enforce this directive.

Arguments of Both Sides:

The decision stemmed from a transfer petition involving a family dispute, where the caste of the parties was mentioned in the memo. The Court expressed dissatisfaction with such practices and emphasized the need to cease and shun the mention of caste or religion. The petitioner’s counsel argued that altering the memo of parties might face objections from the registry and justified the inclusion of caste details due to their prior mention in the lower courts.

Court’s Judgment:

The Supreme Court unequivocally directed that the caste or religion of parties should not be mentioned in the memo of parties in any petition or proceeding filed before the Court. This directive applies irrespective of whether such details were furnished before the lower courts. The Court further ordered the circulation of this directive to the Registrar Generals of all High Courts to ensure its implementation at various levels of the judiciary.