Caste Or Religion Of Litigant Should Never Be Mentioned In Judgments : Supreme Court To All Courts

The Supreme Court has deprecated the practice followed by certain Trial Courts and High Court of mentioning the caste or religion of a party in the cause-title of the judgment.

While deciding a criminal appeal arising from a child sex abuse case in Rajasthan, the Supreme Court was surprised to note from the cause-title of the judgments of the Trial Court and the High Court that the respondent's caste has been mentioned. The Court further said that the same defect was carried forward in the Special Leave Petition as the description of the respondent–accused must have been copied from the cause title of the judgments of the Courts.

"An accused has no caste or religion when the Court deals with his case. We fail to understand why the caste of the accused has been mentioned in the cause title of the judgments of the High Court and the Trial Court. The caste or religion of a litigant should never be mentioned in the cause title of the judgment," the bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal ordered in the judgment. Earlier also, the bench had passed an interim order on March 14, 2023, in the case deprecating the practice of citing the caste name of parties.

The bench made these observations in the judgment deciding an appeal filed by the State of Rajasthan High Court challenging the order passed by the Rajasthan High Court reducing the sentence awarded to a convict for the rape of a girl child from life term to twelve years. The Supreme Court did not restore the life sentence awarded by the trial court but directed that the convict must serve a sentence of 14 years without remission. The Court considered the young age of the accused (22 years) as one of the mitigating factors.

The Court also directed the Secretary of the Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority to ensure that compensation under the relevant victim compensation scheme is immediately paid to the victim as per her entitlement, if not already paid.

The Court also passed a general directions regarding support for child victims of sexual offences.

"Whenever a child is subjected to sexual assault, the State or the Legal Services Authorities should ensure that the child is provided with a facility of counselling by a trained child counsellor or child psychologist. It will help the victim children to come out of the trauma, which will enable them to lead a better life in future. The State needs to ensure that the children who are the victims of the offence continue with their education. The social environment around the victim child may not always be conducive to the victim's rehabilitation. Only the monetary compensation is not enough. Only the payment of compensation will not amount to rehabilitation in a true sense. Perhaps the rehabilitation of the girl victims in life should be part of the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign of the Central Government. As a welfare State, it will be the duty of the Government to do so. We are directing that the copies of this judgment should be sent to the Secretaries of the concerned departments of the State."

Case Title : State of Rajasthan v. Gautam s/o Mohanlal

Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 875

Click here to read the judgment