Supreme Court rejects plea to stop caste census

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to stop the caste Census, and slammed the petitioner for the language used in the PIL.

“Aapne apne petition me badtameezi ki bhasa likhi hai. Aapne kisse apna petition likhwaya hai” (You have written indecent language in your petition. Who has written your petition?),” a visibly angry Chief Justice Surya Kant told the petitioner, who was appearing in person.

“Aap kahan se aisi bhasa likhte ho petition me (From where you write such language in your petition),” the CJI, who was heading the bench which also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, told the petitioner. The bench dismissed the plea, which also sought a direction to the Centre to formulate policies to provide economic incentives to families with a single child.  On February 2, the top court had refused to entertain a separate PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general Census.

The 2027 Census, officially the 16th national census, will be the first to include comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931 and the country’s first fully digital census.