So far no one has been convicted for making a speech which emits communal hatred or spews venom among one caste for another. Though there's been serious concerns expressed by the people who matter in administrative and judicial governance over misuse of caste and religion, little has been done to stop unbridled use of freedom of speech of expression for damning the social fabric.
It has been held that seeking votes in the name of `his or her' religion isn't an offence but mustering of electoral strength by castigating someone’s religion isn't legally permissible.
A new trend has been seen when political leaders who thrive on the caste pocket resort to using other's caste to yield bonanza at the polls.
The issue is whether leaders can defy the preamble of the Constitution that resolves to constitute a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic and ensures to all citizens justice, social, economic and political.
It doesn't talk of any caste or religion. Its emphasis is on the secular and socialistic character of the polity.
The Constitution makers proposed a caste-less society. But an archaic social malpractice to discriminate between the so called upper and lower caste people is in existence in the form of `two tumblers system' in Tamil Nadu notwithstanding the fact that it is an offence under the SC/ST Act.
Recently, the Allahabad High Courtsaid the state authorities and the Union government shouldmake their stand clear on the issue. The court maydirect them to conduct a meeting of the stake holders who propagate the caste at the public platform.
According to the National Crimes Research Bureau,whilecrime against women during 2010went up by 4.8 per cent to 2,13,585 cases from 2,03,804 cases in 2009, crime against the Scheduled Castes declined by 2.6 per cent in 2010to 32,712 cases from 33,594 cases in 2009.
At the same time cases against the ST during the last year was put at 5885 case, an increase of 8.5 per cent compared to 5425 cases in 2009. It is pertinent to note that manual scavenging, a job which is reserved for a particular class of underprivileged society continues in most part of the country.
Ironically, the law makers haven't found out a solution to nip this inhuman evil in the bud.
One of the reasons for keeping the marginalisedsection of the society includingST/SC citizens as underdogs even after 64 years of Independence is the vote bank politics.
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