The Delhi High Court on Thursday indicated it was not inclined to hear a plea challenging the Centre’s circular directing media houses not to use the word ‘Dalit’ to describe members of Scheduled Castes.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru said the circular was issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting after the Bombay High Court had asked the Centre to consider taking such a decision and therefore, the order has to be challenged in the Supreme Court.
The August 7 circular was on Wednesday challenged in the Delhi High Court by the National Dalit Movement for Justice’s (NDMJ) general secretary V.A. Ramesh Nathan. The plea said the word “helps the diverse communities of notified scheduled castes across the country to unite under a common banner and associate, mobilise and gather consensus on the various common issues that need redress”.
On June 8, 2018, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court had asked the Ministry to consider issuing a direction to media to stop using the word ‘Dalit’, following a circular to government officials against using the word. Subsequently, on August 7 the Ministry issued a circular directing the media to refrain from using the word and use ‘scheduled caste’ instead.
‘Self-chosen name’
In his plea, Mr. Nathan said the word ‘Dalit’ “is a self-chosen name, positive self-identifier and a political identity to describe the pan-Indian community of all those who have been affected by the caste system and the practice of untouchability for several centuries and thus deprived of social, economic, political and cultural rights.”
