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Supreme Court stays away from media advisory on usage of 'Dalit'

The petition was filed by a group of social activists led by VA Ramesh Nathan, an activist espousing rights of Scheduled Castes

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The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a government circular that restrained media from using the word 'Dalit'. The circular issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) on August 7, 2018 had insisted on the use of the word Scheduled Caste.

The petition was filed by a group of social activists led by VA Ramesh Nathan, an activist espousing rights of Scheduled Castes. He claimed that the government cannot determine the identity with which members of a certain community have remained historically connected and recognised.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal who appeared for the petitioner said, "How can the government question my identity?" Assisted by advocate P Sriram, the senior counsel submitted that the circular violates free speech — a valuable right given to the media under the Constitution.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, "At this stage, we are not inclined to interfere." However, the court allowed the petitioner to file a representation to the I&B Ministry.

The government circular "advised" the media to refrain from using the term 'Dalit' while referring to members belonging to Scheduled Caste. The said direction was stated to be a follow-up to an order passed by the Bombay High Court in June last year where the government was asked to consider issuing orders to ensure official communication carries the word 'Scheduled Castes'.

Accordingly, the circular said, "The Constitutional term 'Scheduled Caste' in English, and its appropriate translation in other national languages should alone be used for all official transaction, matters, dealings, certificates etc for denoting the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes notified in the Presidential Orders issued under Article 341 of the Constitution of India."

The petition submitted that the word "Dalit" is a self- chosen name — a "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.

"By directing private channels not to use the term 'Dalit' and thus ensuring its erasure from public consciousness, creates a chilling effect on the use of the term by individuals for their self-determination and identity formation and is therefore in violation of Article 19 of the Constitution of India," Nathan stated in his petition.

THE CIRCULAR

According to the advisory only the term ‘Scheduled Caste’ in English, and its appropriate translation should be used for all official matters for denoting the persons belonging to SC category.

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