Long overdue reckoning

In the rich and illustrious history of India, caste-based discrimination has been one of the several sore points. While the Indian Constitution outlawed caste discrimination over seven decades ago, it continues to torment certain segments of society even today. Worse still, the traces of such maladies linger even in institutions of the State. India's fight against caste-based discrimination has been a long and arduous journey, and it should go on for now. Early this month, based on a petition filed by journalist Sukanya Shantha, the Supreme Court struck down provisions perpetuating caste-based discrimination in prison rules. The ruling is obviously a pivotal moment for the country's justice system. However, it also raises uncomfortable questions about how the deeply ingrained caste bias continues to shape the contours of the very institutions meant to uphold equality and justice.

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It is a sad reality that the archaic language prevailing in prison manuals across several states is a manifestation of a system rife with casteist undertones. Terms such as 'habitual offenders,' 'prison-cooks of suitable caste,' and 'communities accustomed to performing menial tasks' bulwark the very social hierarchies that the Constitution sought to dismantle. These provisions not only violate the spirit of Articles 14, 15, 21, and 23 of the Constitution, but also highlight how caste continues to dictate the treatment of individuals within the criminal justice system. That a grossly unjust system has been infringing upon the rights of marginalised prisoners for quite a long time, feeding upon deliberately maintained loopholes, is a matter of shame for the entire country. India's prison manuals, as evidenced in shrouded wordplay of various state regulations, continue to assign tasks to prisoners based on caste—while the upper