Curing prisons of caste prejudice

Among India’s oldest fault lines, caste and associated discrimination is both stubborn in its longevity and pernicious in its reach. More evidence of this unfortunate phenomenon came last week when the Supreme Court outlawed caste-based bias in prisons and scraped an array of caste-discriminatory jobs given to inmates in Indian jails. The top court found that colonial era jail manuals that segregated professions based on caste were violations of the constitutional protections for equal opportunity and against untouchability.

The bench said caste-based assignments of labour, such as assigning menial tasks like cleaning and sweeping to marginalised castes while reserving cooking for higher castes, is a violation of Articles 14 and 15 of the Constitution, which ensures equality and prohibits discrimination on the grounds of caste. It further stated that these practices fail to meet the test of intelligible differentia and do not contribute to the reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners.
For an issue that flew under the radar for many decades, this is a watershed moment in several ways. One, the Supreme Court expanded the scope of Article 21, stating that caste-based discrimination hinders personal growth and development. It ruled that prison systems must allow individuals from marginalised communities to overcome caste prejudices and provide an environment that respects equality and dignity. Two, it recognised the discrimination faced by denotified tribes in a rare acknowledgment of how independent India has failed to eradicate the bias engendered by colonial tropes. Three, it spoke about indirect forms of discrimination and used the logic to order the Centre to tweak model prison manuals and rules notified in 2023. The order is a significant step in the battle against caste.