Did you know that according to a statement released by the Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, courts across the country are coming to the aid of several youths choosing to marry outside of their castes and communities? As reported by The Hindu, Justice Kaul said, “Educated younger boys and girls are choosing their life partners, which, in turn, is a departure from the earlier norms of society where caste and community play a major role. Possibly, this is the way forward where caste and community tensions will reduce by such intermarriages.”
This verdict following the petition in lieu of an incident filed by a lecturer, stating that an MBA graduate, Laxmibai Chandaragi, had run off to marry an MTech graduate and assistant professor who was of a different caste, and had left Bengaluru for Delhi. What’s more, the case took a bizarre turn when on an FIR filed by the girl’s relatives, led the investigating officer to direct the student in question, to leave her husband and be present at the police station. Chandaragi refused to be present owing to the fact that she was already threatened by her relatives who resided in that district, and instead sent across her marriage certificate with a statement asserting that the marriage was of her choosing.
A victory against caste-based preduciced came when the court quashed the case, and Justice Kaul even quoted BR Ambedkar’s Annihilation of Caste statement, which says, “I am convinced that the real remedy is intermarriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling—the feeling of being aliens—created by caste will not vanish.”
As part of the verdict, the court has directed police authorities to counsel the investigating officers, as well as device a training programme to deal with such cases as a way to benefit police personnel.
*Image for representational purposes only