The Bombay High Court has allowed a 20 year young woman to stake claim in caste of her mother who raised her as a single-parent upon separation from father.
The Division Bench of Justice G.A. Sanap and Justice Sunil B. Shukre has been almost entirely brought up by her mother who belongs to Mahar Scheduled Caste.
The Court noted that she was seven, residing with the mother when they obtained their divorce decree in 2009. The Report of Vigilance Enquiry Officer was also taken into account.
The Vigilance Enquiry Officer, on making a detailed enquiry, found that father of the Petitioner never cared for his two children and never related to them in any manner nor did he take his children to any of his paternal relative.The Vigilance Officer has found that the children or the two siblings including the Petitioner do not recognize any of the paternal relatives. He has also noted that while admitting the Petitioner to the first standard of a school, her mother showed the Petitioner as belonging to Mahar caste. He has further found that the grandfather of the children follows customs, traditions and practices prevailing in Mahar caste.
In this view, the Court noted that the Petitioner has grown and has been reared in an atmosphere and with customs, traditions and practices that prevail in a household inhabited by Mahar caste persons, which is the caste of the mother of the Petitioner from maternal side. This evidence would certainly entitle the Petitioner to stake a claim as belonging to Mahar caste, the Court ruled citing SC rulings in Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika Vs. State of Gujarat & Others, 2012 Latest Caselaw 50 SC
The Scrutiny Committee has failed to properly appreciate the evidence brought on record by the Petitioner, which was in the nature of entries of relatives of the Petitioner from maternal side, the Court stated. The Committee ought to have appreciated the evidence produced on record by the Petitioner which pertains to the relatives of the mother of the Petitioner, it added.
It further remarked that peculiar background of the Petitioner would show that the Petitioner was also subject to same disadvantages, same neglect and same backwardness as her mother faced and therefore, the Petitioner can rightfully take the caste of her mother and not her father.
Case Title: Kasturi Sushma Khandekar v/s. State of Maharashtra and Ors
Case Details: WRIT PETITION NO. 3254 OF 2021
Coram: Justice G.A. Sanap and Justice Sunil B. Shukre
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