Madras High Court Issues Notice On Plea Seeking Direction To Trial Courts To Refrain From Mentioning Caste, Religion Of Witnesses

The bench of Justice R Subramanian and Justice Victoria Gowri ordered notice on a plea filed by Gokul Abhimanyu, a lawyer practicing before the Madurai bench of the High Court.

In his plea, Gokul submitted that even after the Supreme Court's order directing the High Courts to ensure that the caste or religion of a litigant does not appear in any petition or suit proceedings before High Court or any subordinate court, the trial courts in the State had not relinquished the practice of mentioning this information.

Gokul submitted that while the judicial system strives to uphold the principles of equality and impartiality, the disclosure of a witness's caste during the evidence has the potential to introduce biases. He pointed out that mentioning the caste or the religion could lead to a situation where the judge or the prosecutor or the counsel, consciously or unconsciously, might develop biases towards or against the witness based on their caste or religion, thus undermining the principles of fair trial and justice.

Gokul further added that a person's caste or religion was completely irrelevant to the legal issues to be adjudicated and requiring such information in ordinary circumstances would not serve any legitimate purpose. He added that the primary focus of a judicial proceeding should be on the credibility and relevance of the testimony and not the personal characteristics of the witness like caste or religion.

Gokul also pointed out that since the depositions were available on the public platform, it was easily accessible to the public and thus publishing this information would violate the fundamental right to privacy of the witness.

Case Title: Gokul Abhimanyu OR v The Registrar General and Others

Case No: WP (MD) No. 22636 of 2024