‘Casteism exists even 75yrs after independence’

Bhubaneswar: Incidents of caste-motivated violence show that casteism has not been annihilated even after 75 years of independence and it is high time civil society reacts and responds with “strong disapproval” about the ghastly crimes committed in the name of caste, the Supreme Court has said. The top court, which delivered its verdict on a batch of pleas in a 1991 Uttar Pradesh dishonour killing case, in which three persons, including a woman, were killed, said it had earlier issued several directions to the authorities to take strong measures to prevent dishonour killings. Those directives should be carried out without any further delay, it said. A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao also said that to avert trials getting tainted and “truth becoming a casualty”, the State has a definite role to play in protecting witnesses, to start with, at least in sensitive cases involving those in power who have political patronage and could wield muscle and money power.

“Two young men and a woman were physically assaulted for nearly 12 hours and killed by the accused of violating caste-ridden societal norms. These episodes of caste-motivated violence in the country demonstrate the fact that casteism has not been annihilated even after 75 years of independence,” the bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai, said  -(PTI)