The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Centre and Delhi government on a plea seeking to direct the authorities not to use the alleged derogatory word ‘kanjar’ on the caste certificate issued to the members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities belonging to ‘Giraha’ community.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh posted the plea file by Akhil Bhartiya Gihara Samaj Jagriti Parishad for further hearing on August 31. The petition said the caste certificates issued by the government contained “undignified and humiliating terms as ‘kanjar’.
It said the parishad had made several representations to the authorities to remove the derogatory word, but no effort was made to redress their grievances.
Cites another judgment
The plea mentioned that the High Court, in a judgment passed on July 27, 2011, had directed the authorities to substitute the word ‘chura’ with ‘balmiki’ in the caste certificate.
The petition said the ‘Gihara’ community is a recognised Scheduled Caste and the authorities should not have any objection in issuing the caste certificate mentioning the caste as ‘Gihara’ instead of the alleged derogatory word.
“The respondents, whose task is to look after the effective implementation of the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and not to ignore thereby, violate its provisions by using derogatory expressions in the certificates issued to the members of such community,” the plea said.
