UP bans caste-based political rallies, orders removal of caste markers from police records

The Uttar Pradesh government has barred caste-based political rallies and public displays of caste-based signage, saying that they threaten “public order” and undermine constitutional values, The Indian Express reported.

The directive, issued on Sunday by officiating Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar to district magistrates, police chiefs and other state officials, said that rallies organised on caste lines for political purposes promote social conflict. It directed authorities to take action against those inciting divisions through “caste-based displays and protests”, the newspaper reported.

The directive came just days after an Allahabad High Court order that prohibited the declaration of caste in police documents and other records. The court had also taken exception to the broader practice of caste glorification on vehicles and on social media.

The High Court had said that recording or declaring caste without legal relevance amounts to identity profiling, reinforces prejudice and violates fundamental rights.

On Sunday, the state government issued the directive citing the High Court order.

The directive stated that police records such as arrest memos and station notice boards must not carry caste details, and the names of both parents should be recorded instead, The Indian Express reported.

Authorities were told to work with the National Crime Records Bureau to remove caste columns from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems portal, and to leave such fields blank until changes are made.

Exceptions can be made only when the law requires mentioning caste identities, such as crimes registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act, the directive said.

The directive also stated that vehicles carrying caste slogans or stickers are to be challaned under the Central Motor Vehicles Act.

Separately, signboards glorifying caste or declaring areas as caste territories must be taken down immediately, the newspaper quoted the directive as saying.

Court order

In its order, the High Court had noted that caste identifiers are reappearing in public and online spaces, calling it a coded assertion of social power that undermines constitutional values.

While ordering the removal of the caste column in investigating documents and other records, the court had also said that law enforcement agencies were not immune to social biases.

A bench headed by Justice Vinod Diwakar had asked the state to prepare a regulatory framework to amend the Central Motor Vehicle Rules to ban caste-based slogans and identifiers on all vehicles.